June 1 will be an historic day in Empire and Glen Arbor townships as the two municipalities' fire and rescue departments will merge to become Glen Lake Fire and Rescue.

At its meeting Tuesday night, the Empire Township Board unanimously approved a contract with Glen Arbor Township to merge Empire’s fire and rescue with Glen Arbor’s. The cost of the annual contract is $690,000 for the 2008-09 fiscal year. In exchange for contracting with Glen Arbor, Empire Township will have two full-time fire fighters/emergency medical technicians manning the Empire fire hall 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Township residents will now have Advance Life Support (ALS) ambulance service as well.

Supervisor Bill Bolton said with Kasson Township no longer providing $75,000 to cover its costs for participating in Empire’s improved service, Glen Arbor Township officials agreed to not charge Empire Township for its first month of service. Bolton said while the two full-time responders will start at Empire on June 1, the township won’t have to make its first monthly payment of $68,000 until July 1.

Bolton said Glen Lake Fire and Rescue will honor the county’s mutual aid agreement and respond with volunteer members to any fire or rescue call to Kasson Township if there is no response from Kasson’s primary service provider, which is the Centerville-Solon Fire and Rescue Department.

In related matters, the township board authorized Bolton to sign a contract with County Renovations, L.L.C., based in Farmington Hills, to convert the fire hall meeting room into living quarters for the two full-time personnel, with the base cost of the contract set at $37,275. The board also authorized Bolton to take a request to the county Building Inspections Department to waive requiring an interior sprinkler fire suppression system for the living quarters.

Bolton said as to the sprinkler requirement, he has been told by people who work install fire suppression systems in buildings that they did not think it is required for the space Empire officials plan to use for the living quarters. “Besides, we have a 2,000 gallon tanker full of water sitting next to the room and a hydrant right across the street,” he said.

Bill Peyton, owner of True North Builders and a township resident, said he was very disappointed in how the township board went through the process of awarding the bid for the meeting room conversion. He said the township did not provide a proper bid specification sheet and that he attempted to fill in some of the “blank spots.”

“I bid $8,000 to $10,000 over what I thought you were asking for,” he said.

True North Builders and County Renovation were the two bids the board wanted to consider as the final two. At a special meeting on April 24, the board authorized Bolton to contact County Renovations and see if they would do a walk-through of the meeting room, to make sure its bid was in line with what the township expected. Peyton said Tuesday night he would have liked to have had the same opportunity to meet with Bolton and discuss his bid as well.

“I think the whole situation was poorly handled,” he said.

In other business, the board:

• Heard another issue from Peyton concerning the Glen Lake Marine storage facility on M-72, west of Plowman Road. He said there is an ongoing problem with the property owner placing boats and trailers within the 75-foot front yard setback to advertise items for sale. Peyton also said there has been many on-going problems the property, including storm water run-off impacting his driveway. Peyton said he has contacted township officials in the past to address these problems and received little to no response. Township Zoning Administrator Gene Perfect said he has had the property owner move boats and trailers out of the set back in the past and would continue to do so.