Council to reopen talks with Alpena Township on fire services
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ALPENA -- After voting in December not to pursue a long-term contract with Alpena Township to provide fire services, the Alpena Municipal Council voted 5-0 Monday, to open talks with township officials once more.
The city was hired in January to provide coverage for the township's north station for $125,000 to buy the township some time to find a solution to a staffing shortage.
If talks go well, and a deal is struck, it would not combine the two departments, Alpena Fire Chief Bill Forbush said.
At its March 3 meeting, the Township Board of Trustees voted to allow Supervisor Nathan Skibbe to reach out to the city to gauge interest. Skibbe said the correspondence was a part of the township doing its due diligence in finding a solution to the township fire department staffing and financial woes.
Skibbe said at the meeting there is a chance the township can build up the department on its own.
An intergovernmental committee may also be created for negotiations.
Councilman Mike Nowak, who voted against moving forward on a merger after township residents shared their displeasure with the idea at a joint meeting in November, said since it has taken time for the township to round out its employee roster, he supports seeing what the city can do to help.
After talking to local firefighters about how things are operating with the city managing the north department, Nowak is now open to reengaging with the township on the matter.
"I have talked to our firefighters to see how things are going and they told me it was going well," Nowak said.
Forush will contact Skibbe about possible talks. If things heat up, and a deal is near, he said elected officials will then play a bigger role.
The possibility of the township maintaining and restructuring the township fire department on its own is still on the table too, as was evident at its last meeting.
Trustees Cash Kroll and Steve Lappan, who are on the fire department ad hoc committee, voted against involving the city, as did Clerk Michele Palevich. They prefer trying to restaff and restructure the department on its own.
The township approached the city last year about a possible merger because of the cost of running the department, and the upcoming employee issues. There were several firefighters who retired and others that accepted other jobs, including a few who took positions with the Alpena Fire Department.
In other business
The council voted to submit a pair of grant applications that if accepted could lead to a new restroom facility at Bay View Park, and a complete renovation of Culligan Plaza.