Fire Protection and Emergency Services in Wilson County, TN

This petition is being launched as an effort to bring to the forefront the severe shortage of staffing and equipment in the Wilson County Emergency Management Agency ("WEMA").  If you or your loved ones Live, Work, Shop, practice your religious faith, or Play in Wilson County, Tennessee, they could be at increased and unacceptable risk due to severe shortfalls in the level of coverage for Fire Protection and Emergency Services in this County.  While a political stand-off between the Mt. Juliet City Commission and the Wilson County Board of Commissioners, the lives and safety of the people are put at unnecessary and unacceptable levels of risk.
The causes of this shortfall in WEMA Stations, staffing, and equipment are lack of money and acrimony and enmity between various factions of our political leadership and community.  Money should not be an issue in one of the most affluent counties in all of Tennessee and the Acrimony and enmity must end.  
It is time for you and I, the citizens, to own this issue.  It is our lives and our security that are being jeopardized by the politicians who have refused to properly and thoroughly address this issue, and thus it is time to take matters into our own hands and force those very same politicians to act.  
It is apparent that they, the politicians throughout all of Wilson County, will not rectify this issue on their own, so it is important that we as citizens apply substantial public pressure on them to force them into a countywide congress where they face each other, are forced to communicate with one another, and where they hear from the public.  
Each election cycle political candidates give a lot of lip service to being serious about this chronic and serious problem, but once the elections are over, they go back to doing business as usual and nothing ever gets done to solve this problem.  
The Fire Fighters and Emergency Service workers in this county have been screaming to use regarding the severe shortfalls they deal with in WEMA.   

MTAS/CTAS have conducted a study of the situation in Wilson County, and have delivered a final report to the County Commission, who seemingly have completely ignored the report.  
Wilson County threatened to completely abandon fire protection for the 25,000 plus citizens that make up Mt. Juliet, without at the same time making provisions for a reduction in the property taxes that they charge the citizens living in Mt. Juliet so that Mt. Juliet could increase its property taxes to raise funds to provide fire protection for itself.  
The issue of fire protection and emergency services is one that is causing increasing political strife in this county, and is further dividing the citizens of this community.  
There are laws regarding the funding of fire departments to which it appears Wilson County is not adhering.  
Elections don't seem to work, laws don't seem to make a difference, so what else is there but to force them into a congress where they are forced to hash out the problems and come to resolution?  If enough politicians feel the heat from the public, and the media, perhaps they will decide it is high-time to fix this issue.
By signing this petition, you are agreeing to the following:
"We, the signers of this petition, agree that it is time to resolve this issue of lack of fire stations, lack of staffing, and lack of equipment in Wilson County.  We believe that the politicians of this County, and its incorporated cities, have had sufficient time to resolve these issues without citizen involvement and you have failed.  We are no longer willing to sit idly by and put our families, our homes, and our investments at risk because of the acrimony between various politically and financially motivated groups and individuals and because of the inaction caused by those various interests.  We demand that you act appropriately, equitably, and lawfully to resolve this issue.  We suggest that you arrange, on your own, a countywide congress of all political and administrative leaders of the several governments of this County where you face each other, discuss the differences, discover solutions, and take appropriate and decisive action.  We would like to be included in such talks so that we can express our opinions, provide input, provide documentation, and implore you to take proper action to resolve this issue before yet another person is needlessly harmed, or even killed, due to shortfalls in WEMA.  We are also concerned for the safety and well-being of our Fire Fighters and Emergency Services workers.  They are appealing to us, the citizens, because you have been unresponsive to their appeals to you.  The shortfalls in Equipment and staffing put their lives in jeopardy, and we find that reprehensible and utterly unacceptable."