The topic of a possible fire protection district being created was a topic of discussion during Monday night’s meeting of the Public Safety Committee prior to the full Vandalia City Council meeting. During the meeting, Mayor Rick Gottman again expressed that he would like to see something move forward soon with looking at the possibility of something being done because of the fact that each time the fire department responds to a fire outside of city limits, they are sending out millions of dollars in equipment that the city residents pay for with taxes. With a protection district, additional money from areas already currently covered by the fire department would come to the city to be put towards the cost of fire equipment and other fire department expenses. It had been noted that Mulberry Grove had recently looked at expanding their fire protection district in order to receive the tax money in the outlying area currently covered by Vandalia. During the meeting, alderman Russ Stunkel questioned Fire Chief Keith Meadows as to the thoughts of the Vandalia Fire Department and what they would like to see in regards to a possible protection district. Meadows stated that the department would like to see a “paper” district. That particular district would leave the city fire department as it is and create a “donut” district around the city but an agreement would be brought about between the city and the fire protection district for use of equipment and coverage. If talks would proceed forward with a paper district looked at being put on the ballot, the City of Vandalia would then not be able to put any money towards the efforts of creating the district and only residents who live in what would be the district area outside of the city would be able to vote on the issue of a fire protection district. If a district made up of the City of Vandalia and the surrounding area together was proceeded with, then the city would be able to offer financial assistance and city residents would be able to vote on the issue as well.