Blair votes to establish own fire dept.

By VICTOR SKINNER
vskinner@record-eagle.com

June 28, 2008 12:00 am

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GRAWN -- Blair Township will cancel its contract with Grand Traverse Rural Fire Department and establish an independent department, a move that potentially could save the township more than $100,000 a year.

Blair Township board members voted 6 to 1 this week to cancel a $200,000 contract with Rural and transition the current Battalion 5 station along County Road 633 into a township-operated facility by the end of the year.

"The $215,000 that we budgeted ... will now go toward equipment. Now, we can say where the money needs to go," township Supervisor Marilyn Fleis said, adding that two consultants who analyzed all aspects of the shift estimate an annual savings of up to $120,000.

"We will have better service and get more bang for the buck," she said.

Rural Fire Chief Bill Sedlacek said the decision will slash the department's funding by 20 percent. Rural officials likely will meet to adjust their budget, though he was unsure what cost-cutting measures would be necessary.

"We have some fund balance, so we will be all right," he said. "Things will just be tighter."

Blair Township currently employs six full-time and 19 volunteer firefighters, all of whom are expected to stay on through the transition. The township already owns the building, but the station's two fire trucks and equipment are owned by Rural, Fleis said.

"We are hoping to perhaps purchase some equipment from Rural that we have here now at the station. Also, we will be looking at getting new equipment," she said.

The transition will not result in any additional taxes. Mutual aid agreements will be arranged between Blair Township, Rural and other area agencies to ensure coverage is "as good as it has been or better," Fleis said.

Township board member Joe Lowe, who cast the lone dissenting vote, generally is in favor of an independent department, but expressed concerns about how it would be managed.

"I didn't want the fire department to be micromanaged by the township board," he said. "I think we have to establish a fire board. That would be, I imagine, our first step."