TRAVERSE CITY — City commissioners will have to ante up cash if they want to know how much it will cost to join Grand Traverse Metro Fire Department.
A three-township authority that runs Metro Fire agreed to do a feasibility study before making a proposal to the city to provide emergency fire and rescue services.
The authority also will require the city to help pay for the study before it moves forward. The city's portion is expected to come in around $20,000, but could go up or down based on bids and a potential state grant.
"I don't see why the city commission would be reluctant to study it," said Traverse City Mayor Michael Estes. "We studied the police department and it would give them information about the benefit and non-benefit of providing our own fire service."
A deal with Metro would allow the city to eliminate its fire department in a cost-cutting move. The city has full-time staff, while Metro uses a mixture of full-time, part-time, and on-call staff.
City officials wanted a proposal from Metro prior to the study, or to work on both simultaneously.
The city's push for a quick resolution puzzled some fire authority board members, which is comprised of two elected officials from Garfield, East Bay, and Acme townships.
Board Chairman Bob Featherstone of Garfield Township called it "silly" to provide a proposal before a study.
Others concluded the city's urgency is strictly financial.
"Every day they wait they don't save any additional funds," said fire board member Beth Friend of East Bay Township.
City commissioners wanted to resolve the fire department question before they adopt the budget for a fiscal year that begins July 1. Hitting that deadline seems unlikely now.
Metro won't know about the grant for two months, and the time to bid out and complete the study would add several more months onto the process.
"I'm less than thrilled the process is going to eat up as much time as it is because we are interested in resolving it," said city Commissioner Mike Gillman. "But we don't want them to do anything they are not comfortable with."
Chuck Korn, Garfield Township supervisor and a Metro board member, said a professional, third-party review is needed to make sure the proposal is fair to the city and doesn't put the townships at financial risk.
"Otherwise, the only option is to give them a price that's high enough to protect us, but probably isn't fair to the city," Korn said.
Region
Merger study to cost city
Traverse City's portion expected to be about $20,000
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Downtown leader passes away
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Light & Power board balks at price of proposal
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Empire event to celebrate beloved soundman
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Northern Notes: Just Mulch gets thank-you
Debra Norman, principal at Lake Ann Elementary School, wrote to thank Scott and Deb Talquist from Just Mulch for providing the school with the equipment and manpower to keep its pond and waterfall operating.
Continued ... - Sunday, June 16, 2013
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TBAISD to hold budget hearing
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'Family is our whole life': Raising quadruplets plus two
Since her quadruplets grew out of diapers, life smoothed out for Tonya Lewandowski.
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Program aims to keep tenants in their homes
Charles Alexander sat in 86th District Court and uttered that he'd rather be dead than homeless.
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Acme beach buildings demo set
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Free fishing day hooks young anglers
Screeches, squeals and screams of excitement could be heard from Northwestern Michigan College's Great Lakes Campus as kids reeled in rainbow trout.
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Fire damages Garfield Township home
Firefighters were called to 4327 Stoneridge Dr. Saturday at 2:12 a.m. and arrived to flames through the roof.
Continued ... - Saturday, June 15, 2013
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Michigan still reeling out cash incentives
The heyday of Michigan’s movie incentives has faded, but director Rich Brauer lauded the state’s restructured movie incentive program as “very, very intelligent.”
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Dogman yelps again in film
Walter Rowen panted, not unlike a dog, after he sprinted around on aluminum stilts with furry paws at the bottom with two other similarly outfitted men.
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Predictions of turbine's demise premature
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Traverse City Manager Bifoss' tenure ends next week
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Discussion to address suicide prevention
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Group works to halt invasive plants' spread
Landscape professionals who work in Benzie, Grand Traverse, Leelanau, and Antrim counties are invited to register for Go Beyond Beauty, a new program of the Northwest Michigan Invasive Species Network.
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More sea lamprey treatments, surveys scheduled
Scientists plan to find and kill parasitic fish in several local waterways.
Continued ... - Friday, June 14, 2013
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Coming Saturday: Dogman yelps again
Walter Rowen panted, not unlike a dog, after he sprinted around on aluminum stilts with furry paws at the bottom with two other similarly outfitted men.
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TC Senior Center to receive face-lift
Bill and Linda Lawshe haven’t had a summer off in 30 years, so the recently retirees were pleased to learn they’ll be able to enjoy a remodeled city bayfront senior center.
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Film Fest breaks ground on new movie house
City officials have brought down the house — or at least the roof — for the Traverse City Film Festival and its fast-track effort to convert the Con Foster Museum into a movie theater.
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Longtime choir director retires from TC West post
The curtain is closing on Russ Larimer’s 26-year career as a Traverse City Area Public Schools’ choir teacher and director.
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Man gets prison for assaulting girlfriend
A man could spend up to 10 years in prison for assaulting his girlfriend.
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