FLINT TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN, (outside the City of Flint), brags on its WEBSITE that it is “One of the nation’s leading retail corridors with a dynamic business climate, a vibrant industrial community, and one of the most efficient transportation systems in the Midwest.”
[photopress:flint_a.jpg,full,centered]
But with all that economic success you would think that they’d have sterling city services, like police and fire protection.
They’ve been without a police chief for months now because the township refuses to hire one.
They’ve also been without a fire chief since January. That’s not a new experience either. Until 2004 the fire department was under the leadership of the police chief who had the dual title of Fire Administrator.
In January of 2004 the police chief retired and the township appointed one of the fire captains, Robert Borse, to be the first fire chief in years.
His tenure lasted just three years because in January of this year he asked to take a demotion back to captain. His dereliction was ordering two exhaust fans for the apparatus when all the others were still working. After a vigorous session with the Board of Trustees (over the purchase of two fans) they gave him permission to buy them. Then they found out that all the others were still exhausting smoke when you turned them on and they suspended Borse for 30 days and canceled the fan order.
Just three months earlier Borse had asked for a twp. tax increase to pay for three new engines and perhaps a new aerial. After he was suspended he asked for and received the demotion.
The township has gone this entire year without a chief and now they think they don’t ever need one. Last month the Flint Journal reported:
There won’t be a fire chief in the township anytime soon, as it will instead seek a fire superintendent to do the administrative work of the fire department.
“We’re not looking for a firefighter. We’re looking for an administrator,” Trustee Brady Smith said during Monday’s meeting.
That decision did not sit well with Assistant Fire Chief Mark Rowley, who was previously offered the chief’s job but declined because of money reasons.
“If they would have offered a reasonable salary, we would have a fire chief,” said Rowley, who along with Capt. John Ringwelski could have been in line to be the next chief. Rowley said he would have had to take a pay cut to take the promotion.
The township was offering about $62,000, but Rowley’s salary was listed at more than $64,000, according to 2006 township records. Rowley said he now earns about $68,000.
But when the Township Board was asked what a “fire administrator” would do, they couldn’t answer.
Yesterday the Journal reported that the Twp. has decided to spend $5,200 dollars to patch up its 34-yr.-old ladder truck instead of buying a new one. It is the only aerial in the fleet.
Firegeezer asks: Isn’t it sound financial practice for a municipality to set aside some cash every year into a capital fund account? That way the money is there when a truck needs replacing. This board has never set any money aside for 34 years. Who runs a 34-yr.-old ladder truck?
The Flint Twp. Fire Dept. has three stations and employs 14 full-time firefighters, including the assistant chief, and 38 part-time, on-call firefighters.
[photopress:flint_fd_a.jpg,full,centered]
Department vehicles include seven engines, one tower, two chief’s vehicles, a captain’s vehicle; a walk-in van (Air Unit), 3 utility pickups and an investigation van.
Recent Comments