January meeting planned to decide fate of combined Dexter-Scio fire departments
Following almost two years of talks, a committee of officials from the Village of Dexter and Scio, Webster and Dexter townships is expected to put the final touches on an agreement in January that will combine the Dexter and Scio Township fire departments.
“There is definitely a positive vibe, and the four communities agreed to pay to send out the draft agreement to an attorney. We’ll have the comments from the attorney by Oct. 15,” said Dexter Village President Shawn Keough, chairman of the committee working on this plan.
Although a name for the combined department has not been chosen, the transition plan is now calling it the Western Washtenaw Regional Fire Department.A meeting of elected officials from the three townships and the village is planned for Jan. 16, 2012, to discuss the approval of an interlocal agreement. Officials hope that the new regional department will be up and running by May 2012.
“The process is moving forward nicely, at a slow pace you might say, but it’s moving forward,” Keough said Monday night during an update to the Village Council. Earlier this year, elected officials from the village and the townships adopted a formal resolution to take the next steps toward combining the departments, which is expected to save on operational costs and lead to better response times.
Under the transition plan, all firefighters will be trained as non-transporting emergency medical technicians. The new entity will be “a category 1a” department and respond to all calls, not just those that are deemed life threatening.
A board of 9 people is expected to oversee the combined department — three from Scio Township and two each from Dexter, Webster and the Village of Dexter. The board's first action would be to choose a new fire chief.
The chief, in turn, would determine the staffing level for the combined department.
The consolidated fire budget is estimated at about $2 million. with Dexter Township paying about $300,000 or 15 percent and Scio Township paying about $1.2 million or about 55 percent. Webster Township’s proposed share would be about $342,000 or 17 percent and Dexter Village’s share would be about $247,000 or 13 percent.
The proposed cost amounts are based on each municipality’s population, its state equalized value (with a 50-percent adjustment for open space), and the number of fire calls in the respective areas.
Both the Scio Township Fire Department and the Dexter Area Fire Department are union departments, so both contracts will need to be reopened and renegotiated.
Lisa Allmendinger is a regional reporter for AnnArbor.com. She can be reached at lisaallmendinger@annarbor.com. For more Dexter stories, visit our Dexter page.
Comments
not a billy
Fri, Oct 14, 2011 : 9:16 p.m.
The concept is plausible. The disparity/discord between departments is going to be the issue. Never has been a real congenial relationship since Scio Twp left Dexter FD to go on it's own about thirty years ago. Has "the committee" looked at the morale and training levels at both departments? A telling picture is the one that looks at the turnover rate at both departments. Dexter retains a majority of people because of their training and working together. Scio on the other hand has employed and lost many good people throughout the years, several of which went to Dexter. Should tell you something . . . . Wishing them luck - if they have gotten past the politics of the committee, now the fun begins with the politics of the fire departments! For the Dexter guys -- keep your heads high and maintain your level of professionalism. You'll be the cream that comes to the top of the pot after the stirring is done!
Betty
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 3:46 p.m.
@ bereasonable- I know enough to be dangerous about Dexter & Scio fire-and nothing about Webster. Consider the following my feeble understanding. The Scio Fire Dept.'s capability is very low for the size of the community served. Instead of raising cost's to meet the need, by combining services, Scio can use the savings to get more 'normal' service/response time/equipment etc. They are the largest beneficiaries in this agreement, by having better service, without additional cost. Why 3 people each? Dexter Fire Department has a very high capability - and quite frankly doesn't need Scio (or Webster). This inequity was addressed by allowing for equal voices. I imagine, but don't know for sure, Dexter will save money as a community hopefully, without sacrificing service. This will help them address other budget issues. It seems like this is a terrific arrangement, but the devils in the details. I applaud the effort to address inadequacies by outside the box thinking.
bereasonable
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 11:54 a.m.
I am sure this has been brought up over the past 2 years in planning, but I would like to know why Scio Twp would agree to pay nearly 60% ($1.2m out of $2m) of the cost while having only 33% representation on the board. With a budgeted FY 11 $1,208,875 for fire expenditures, isn't consolidation supposed save money?