Politics & Government

Northville Approves Fire Agreement With City of Plymouth

If Plymouth okays the agreement on Monday, both departments would be operated by Northville.

With an unanimous vote Thursday, 's city council did its part to secure a 12-year renewable agreement with the city of Plymouth to take on Plymouth's fire and EMS services.

Now the proposed agreement goes before Plymouth's city commission for approval on Monday.

The city of Plymouth began seeking proposals from other municipalities last year to contract its fire services. Its contract with Plymouth Township expires on Dec. 31. After 14 years, the city of Plymouth was looking for a better deal, Plymouth officials have said. Under the proposal, Northville would operate Plymouth's downtown station in addition to its Northville station. In total it would save Plymouth an estimated $400,000.

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"Plymouth will reimburse us for start-up costs," Northville city manager Patrick Sullivan said. "The city would pay its share based on its share of the run volume."

Plymouth's share of the budget would be determined each year "based upon the percentage of runs attributable to Plymouth in the prior calendar year," according to Sullivan's report. Sullivan said that the run volume, or number of calls to which the fire department responds, cannot be exactly predicted but that based on Plymouth's larger-than-Northville population, it can be assumed that Plymouth's number of runs would be greater.

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Last year, Northville had 750 calls with 65 to 70 percent of those being medical, Northville Fire Chief James Allen said. Under the agreement he would be the fire chief overseeing both stations.

Currently, Allen said, the city has 33 paid on-call firefighters, who work part-time. Ideally, to operate both stations, a total of about 55 would be best, he said.

If the plan is approved in Plymouth, upgrades to fire equipment and hiring more paid on call firefighters would be the next step, he said. An upgrade to the city of Plymouth's station would also be necessary to bring it up-to-date.

"We have an architect on board ready to go," said Plymouth city manager Paul Sincock, the cost of which is not yet finalized.

"I think in the long run it's gonna make both of our communities stronger," Northville mayor Chris Johnson said. "This is exactly what Gov. (Rick) Snyder encouraged communities to do ... to cooperate with each other without compromising services."

The agreement would be automatically renewed for two years after the 12-year contract period unless one of the cities gives a two-year notice of an intention to opt out of the contract.

The proposal also calls for an advisory board made up of one elected official and the manager of each city. A new addition was made to the agreement calling for a fifth person with firefighting experience who will serve for two years. The advisory board would review the department's operating budget and review capital expenditures over $70,000 as well as give its consent to the addition of any full-time positions.

During public comment, one resident challenged the city council and the fire agreement about choosing to fuse its department with Plymouth instead of Northville Township. She said that the township's fire department was superior to the city's and that she thought it was illogical to have such an agreement with Plymouth instead of Northville Township.

Northville Fire Chief Allen said after the meeting that the reason Northville considered this agreement with Plymouth is because it was solicited by Plymouth.


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