Feet to the fire: Ash Grove Fire Department feels the heat following protocol snafu that lowers ISO rating, raises insurance premiums for community

Around 40 people were on hand Monday night at the monthly Ash Grove Fire Protection District board meeting where Chief Anthony Monnig did his best to explain why some district residents have seen a substantial spike in home insurance premiums.
Monnig outlined that in early 2026 the department was informed they would be subject to an ISO evaluation, the first since 2009. ISO is the private company responsible for rating a fire department's ability to respond to a fire—a rating used by many insurance companies when determining home insurance premiums.
Monnig wasn't worried about the challenge, and submitted the needed information using a Microsoft Excel format. He was then informed it could only be submitted using a Report Management System, an expensive and highly involved software. Within a week, the department moved forward with getting RMS, but there wasn't enough time to input all the information and make the deadline. The result was an ISO that went from a middling 6 rating to a 10 rating, the worst available.
"This was a project that was assigned to me by my fire board and that is on me," Monnig said. "And I want to make sure that everyone is clear. … It's not the board … it is me. … That's my fault."
Monnig added that the department had 90 days to meet the requirement, but were never told of that deadline.
"We were never notified of the 90-day period. We were never told we had 90 days to do anything. We were just told we didn't meet it," Monnig said.
 
Transparency an issue
Adding to the departmental missteps was the lack of transparency once the issue arose. Although the ISO drop was known by the chief and the board for months, it was kept quiet.
"In hindsight I think we could all agree that we wish we would've gotten everyone notified faster. That's on us," Monnig said. "And again no excuses for it. We were kind of afraid we were going to cause an uproar. … We wish we would've handled the PR side better." 
Monnig said there are many insurance companies that don't use ISO, suggesting a lesser potential impact.
 
Board taken to task
Although peppered with questions, and even accusations, Monnig humbly received all opinions for two hours. The board, who was in attendance minus member Seth Carter, was also called out for a lack of oversight, and input.
Former Ash Grove City Council member Casey Benson voiced concern regarding the board.
"You've eaten a lot of crow tonight, and I don't think it was all yours to be eaten," Benson said to Monnig. She then called out the board members present for not commenting on the matter.
 
 
As the meeting evolved, the general complexion of blame shifted from Monnig to ISO itself, for not conveying the new expectations nor offering any grace to the district that clearly had a better offering than in 2009. Talk of a class-action suit was mentioned more than once by attendees, although no formal call to action was made. Pursuing political pressure was also proposed.
 
The race is on now to input all of the data into the new program. Monnig expects the duty will be wrapped up by November. 
"Once we get that in we are going to be able to restart our ISO evaluation," Monnig said. "ISO will not look at this until November. That's when we're hoping to start the evaluation. That's not something we control."
 
Even if ISO starts the review in November there's no timeline for when it might reach a new rating for the district, and further, update the new standing with insurance companies. 
 
What's next
Local resident Andy Robinson, who repeatedly took the district and chief to task for their shortcomings—but stopped just short of calling for Monnig's resignation—requested that the department update the community weekly on the status of the new ISO rating pursuit, to which the chief agreed. 
Much more of this issue remains to be settled in the months ahead. The board will maintain its public meeting schedule for those who would like to attend at 6 p.m. on the fourth Monday of the month.