UPDATED: Firefighters' Supporters Inundate Township Hall

There was talk of Republican agendas, mob rule, shouting, and cheering, but at the Plymouth Township Board of Trustees meeting Tuesday night, there was no sign of a solution to the dilemma of maintaining the current level of fire services that both the Board of Trustees and the firefighter’s union can agree on.

The regular meeting at was filled beyond its capacity, mostly with residents who support leaving intact the township’s full-time firefighter crew, despite the fact the city’s contract for fire services with the City of Plymouth is slated to end Dec. 31. The city paid about $950,000 – or 25 percent – of the joint fire department’s cost.

Though often a pointed yet civil exchange between the community and its elected board, there were accusations thrown out from behind the audience and the board, and tempers flared as several people filed up to oppose a township-supported plan that would introduce part-time, paid on-call and increased transport through Huron Valley Ambulance to the township.

For the township officials, charged with reducing the cost of firefighting services in the wake of the city’s exit from its 15-year old partnership, the issue of fire services will likely be a dominate issue until the end of this year. And firefighters, for the duration of the year, are likely worrying about their jobs and their future.

Anger-tinged comments

Bruce McDonald, a former Detroit Police Officer and resident of the township, said residents would pay for reducing public safety services over the long haul.

“I worked in Detroit when there were 6,600 officers and now they have about 2,700,” he said. “And crime went up. I think that when you start reducing public safety services, you start to have serious problems.”

The city has been in negotiations with its 21-member fire department since 2009. In 2010, the City of Plymouth indicated they wanted the cost of the firefighting operation to be reduced to around $750,000 – or they would pull out of the 15-year-old agreement. The township and the firefighters union could not agree on concessions, and the city exited the partnership effective Dec. 31, 2011.

Greg Mangan, the treasurer of the union, said firefighters offered concessions equal to $300,000, but the township contends it was not in time to secure a new agreement with the city to maintain the partnership.

Much of the conflict between the union and the township’s leadership is the potential introduction of the “hybrid model,” a staffing concept that includes full-time personnel during the week, and part-time and paid on-call firefighters during the evening and weekends. The township favors this model to bring the cost of the fire department from $3.9 million to $2.8 million, but most of the residents who attended Tuesday’s meeting spoke out against it.

Though most comments were supportive of the fire department's position, a handful were not. Township resident Brinton Baker told the audience that residents have dealt with several financial difficulties in the harsh economy; another resident said benefits and pensions for public sector employees need to resemble those in the private sector because taxpayers are tapped out.

Township Supervisor Richard Reaume pointed out that firefighters are well-compensated for their work. A pay schedule he presented to the crowd from the gallery’s overhead projector listed each firefighter and his salary, which generally fell between $100,000 and $75,000 per year. He also indicated that firefighters have excellent benefits in terms of health insurance, and that every other bargaining unit made concessions to help clot the financial bleeding at township hall.

However, firefighters also contribute 7 percent of their income to their retirement, and work unconventional hours – both in time and volume – than most traditional full-time employees.

Mangan said the firefighters offered concessions, and that the only thing standing the way of an agreement was the fact that they board “could not say yes.”

“We offered to take a pay cut, and we offered to take the high-deductible insurance plan,” said Mangan.

According to a proposal submitted by the fire union Jan. 3, the firefighters offered to reduce wages by 5 percent, reduce time off, and to convert to a Medigap plan for current retirees, among other cost savings. The board and the union disagree about whether these concessions were made in time to satisfy the city, which exited the partnership in December.

Much interest among residents

As people continued to file up to the podium to make comments, the atmosphere in the board room took a heated tone at times. When the first comment was made that caused cheers from the crowd, Reaume indicated that “mob rule” was unacceptable – a comment that brought boos and hisses from the attendees.

Two other outbursts among attendees occurred that indicated frustration with the board. When Reaume tried to move the meeting onto its agenda items – two business tax abatement proposals and a golf course contract – the room tensed up.

“You work for us, we don’t work for you,” one resident shouted. “You can’t just tell us to shut up and go away.”

Other tense moments occurred when board trustees told the audience that the favored hybrid proposal closely resembles the plan in the city of Flat Rock, where Plymouth Fire Union President Rick Tefend is a councilman. Tefend said there are several differences between the two communities and denied that he supports a plan where he lives, but not where he works.

Though rhetoric was flowing, what was elusive Tuesday night was a solution.

An attorney who also works as a mediator listened to the debate and offered to provide his services free of charge, adding that he didn’t believe the two sides were as far apart as it appears.

Mangan said one thing that would help settle the agreement is allowing the firefighters to handle transport will raise enough dollars via fees to make up it fiscally-doable for the township, but the township disagrees that there are enough funds to make such an agreement financially dependable.

In the meantime, the township is exploring the possibilities of partnering with Canton Township or Livonia for fire services.