ROCKWELL — There was a good amount of tension at the Rockwell Board of Aldermen meeting on Monday and much less information as Rockwell Fire Department representatives asked about a recent meeting between the aldermen and the Rockwell Rural Fire Department about contracting coverage of the town to Rockwell Rural.

The issue came up when Rockwell Fire Chief Jereme Linker appeared before the board during the meeting and asked them to call a special meeting so that he and his department could talk to the aldermen and receive more information.

“I think one of the issues that all of us (have), is that we don’t know exactly what (Rockwell Rural) proposed. I had a short meeting with (Mayor Pro Tem Chris Cranford), and we just have a lot of questions ourselves,” said Linker.

Mayor Chuck Bowman said that the meeting in question, which occurred in early February, was requested by and entirely the idea of Rockwell Rural Fire Department officials, who wanted to float the idea of their department taking over emergency coverage inside the city limits.

Bowman said the aldermen were willing to listen to the idea because Rockwell Rural already provided mutual aid on many calls in the city and combining the coverage would help them with budget concerns.

“We’ve got two fire departments here in the city limits of Rockwell and all the fire departments are hurting for people. They know that, and their departments doing pretty well right now,” said Bowman.

“In the budget, it’s getting tough to be able to hire more firefighters, plus find them. And, we’ve got some developments starting up and we (may) end up having to do a satellite station and there’s been some issues with some coverage,” added Cranford.

Members of the fire department filled the board room on Monday and expressed their concern about the February meeting, saying that they felt like the board was having conversations about the department in secret. Bowman pushed back against that idea, saying that the meeting was requested by Rockwell Rural and not the town and that it was a public meeting.

“We’re only here to do what’s right for the citizens of this town. Believe me, this is not an easy job, sitting up here making decisions. We know it affects everybody, including y’all, and it affects us also. We’re not trying to hide anything, we are not. Whether you think so or not, we do not try to hide anything, they’re all public meetings,” said Bowman.

After the meeting, Cranford said that Rockwell Rural officials assured the aldermen that all Rockwell firefighters would have their positions retained. Bowman also said that the discussions between Rockwell Rural and the aldermen did not present a new idea, but that it was one the aldermen felt deserved attention.

In order to discuss the issue, Bowman agreed to talk one-on-one with Linker as well as setting up two specially-called meetings involving the fire departments. One would be for the Rockwell Fire Department to give their pitch and accurate information from their side to the aldermen, while the other would include both Rockwell Rural and Rockwell fire departments.