CANYON CITY The on-again, off-again formation of a rural fire district in the Monument area is back on again.

Circuit Court Judge William D. Cramer Jr. last week ordered Grant County to hold a hearing to form the district. The hearing, to determine who wants in, and who wants out of the proposed district, must be held within 45 days of his April 24 ruling.

The Court this week scheduled the hearing for 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 16, at the Monument Senior Center. The Court can approve the petition for the district then; if it does, the issue will go to a final hearing within 20 days. Only a written request for an election could delay the formation at that point.

At the May 16 hearing, residents can ask the Court to include or exclude their properties from the district. The deliberations will start with the map and petition submitted by the district proponents last year.

Copies of the map and petition will be posted at locations in Monument and available at the Grant County Courthouse in Canyon City and at the hearing.

This is the latest chapter in the efforts by Roy Peterson and other area residents to form a rural fire district for properties outside the incorporated city, which has its own fire department. The proposed district would protect buildings in a rural area that has wildland, but not structural, fire protection from the Oregon Department of Forestry.

Last fall, the County Court scheduled a hearing on forming the district and then canceled it, contending that the property descriptions provided by the petitioners were inadequate or flawed.

Peterson sued the county in the state Circuit Court, seeking to force the county government to form the district. He argued that the county delayed past the allowed time for scheduling the hearing and then canceled it, challenging the validity of a petition with 100 percent approval from those with lands in the district.

The attorneys argued the case Nov. 16. In February Cramer issued an order directing the county to form the district. He said no election should be needed because of the 100 percent approval of property owners, as asserted by the proponents attorney, Lisa Klemp.

The county jumped on that assertion to seek reconsideration, contending that the documents they received showed far less than 100 percent.

Last week, Cramer questioned whether there was something going on that I dont understand in the continuing dispute.

He noted the tax revenue projected for the fire district comes to $12,000, but the parties are spending far more than that on the legal fray.

Cramer said that if all the landowners had signed on for the district, then the information submitted by the county about issues after that point were just fluff to me.

By the close of the hearing, however, he conceded to having questions about the 100 percent claim.

Ronald Yockim, the county counsel, said the bottom line was that not all of the landowners on the map had signed the petition. He also said the county assessor had verified only that the petition had the minimum number of signatures required to hold a formation election.

Klemp said Peterson had worked with Oregon Department of Forestry to create a boundary that reflected only the signatures on the petition, and that that had been submitted to the county.

She said the county was using an old map.

Cramer ended the dispute by remanding the case to the County Court, and told it to be prepared to act quickly.

County officials maintain that even if the district is formed without an election, there must be an election to create a tax levy for it. Yockim said such a vote is required by a constitutional amendment.

Peterson disagrees. He said his attorney is seeking a ruling from the state Department of Justice and Department of Revenue on the tax levy issue.

Peterson said he is confounded by the countys continued efforts to block a rural district for the Monument area.

The county wont say why they dont want it, he said. They didnt answer the judge on that, either.

County Judge Mark Webb said the county has told Peterson they dont oppose the district.

Weve told him that we want to support what the community wants, he said, but they also need to make sure the process is followed.

To date, Webb said, the county has no record of a petition with 100 percent of the landowners signing.