The question Bob Scott asked at the Empire Township Annual Meeting Saturday afternoon summed up the feelings of many in the township hall:

Why can’t Empire Township have its own full-time personnel working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, without merging with the Glen Arbor Township fire department?

After viewing budget figures, another question took center stage: Why will the cost paid to Glen Arbor Township to provide emergency services triple?

Before an audience of 40 or so — very large, by Empire standards, township officials sought to answer that and many more questions raised over changes planned in bringing fire and rescue services to residents.

At one time the question was whether Empire Township would continue to have a fire department as declining member numbers and increasing costs forced Empire officials to approach their counterparts in Glen Arbor and see if the idea of having a joint department was possible.

The townships have been working toward combining fire services for more than a year. They have shared ambulance services since 2000.

After discussing the pros and cons of merging, Empire Township supervisor William Bolton asked audience members to raise their hands if they favored the plan. A total of 26 hands were counted. When he asked for those opposed, no hands were seen.

The Empire Township Board plans to take up the proposed contract agreement with Glen Arbor at a future meeting. The board meets the second Tuesday of each month in the township hall at 7:30 p.m. The township fire board, which oversees the township fire and rescue department, meets at 6:30 p.m. on the same evening at the fire hall.

Under the plan presented by Empire and Glen Arbor fire officials Saturday, Empire Township would contract with Glen Arbor to provide 24 hours a day, seven days a week coverage out of the Empire fire hall. Two full-time firefighters/emergency medical technicians would be at the fire station to provide day and night coverage. As part of the agreement, the meeting room area in the fire hall will be converted into living quarters for two people. Estimated cost for the fire hall work is $90,000.

Also as part of the agreement, Empire and Glen Arbor fire and rescue departments would become one unit; the Glen Lake Fire and Rescue Department. Empire has contracted with Glen Arbor since 2000 for full-time ambulance service. For 2007-08 Empire spent $230,000 for the emergency medical service (EMS) provided by Glen Arbor. For 2008-09, anticipated cost for contracting for both EMS and fire services is $690,000 — a three-fold jump in contract costs.

Overall the Empire fire fund budget calls for $794,084 in expenditures, which is up 49 percent from $533,591 for 2007-08. The budget numbers caught most Empire resident off guard. Pete Lavalley said he understood what township board and fire department members were saying on the need for change.
“I get it, that the days of the volunteer fire department are over. But, I just got a copy of this budget two days ago and these numbers are staggering. You’ve had a little longer to come to terms with this, most of us have not,” he said.

Empire supervisor William Bolton said he understood the audience’s concerns. “I wasn’t in favor of this when we first started looking into this a year ago. But, I’ve learned a lot over the last year. We don’t have any choice, we just don’t have the volunteers like we used to,” he said.

To keep a two-person crew at the fire hall seven days a week, all day and night, Glen Arbor will have to hire seven people. Glen Arbor fire chief John Dodson said he will give considerations to qualified applicants from Empire who apply, but he wants to fill positions in as timely a manner as possible.

The need for a full-time crew was summed up best by Dodson in response to statements by audience members that this was just Glen Arbor trying to get one over on Empire. He said during the last six weeks there have been three structure fires in Empire. He broke down average attendance by fire fighters at those scenes by residency: four firefighters responded from Empire, 18 from Glen Arbor, including paid full-time personnel. Dodson said Glen Arbor has been sending its day time responders to Empire given the close history the two departments have, but that practice would no longer be allowed.

“We can’t keep sending our guys down here, it leaves us vulnerable,” he said.

Dodson did say Glen Arbor would honor the “mutual aid” agreement in place with all county fire and rescue departments, but he emphasized that agreement was only for volunteer members — not paid staff.

Empire Fire chief Ryan Deering said he has been recruiting members, and had the Empire fire roster up to 25 members three years ago. But most have left the department because of changes in jobs or because they moved out of the township. He said he did not support the change lightly.

“My grandfather and father were fire chief at Empire. I’m the fire chief now and no one wants to see this department remain as much as I do. But I’ve thought long and hard about this and I think this agreement is our best option,” he said.