sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com
The Alpena Township Board of Trustees voted 4-3 on Wednesday to reach out to the City of Alpena to gauge interest in discussing a possible contract for fire services.
Township Supervisor Nathan Skibbe said he will send the correspondence to Alpena Mayor Matt Waligora.
The possibility of the township maintaining and restructuring the township fire department on its own is still on the table too.
Trustees Cash Kroll and Steve Lappan, who are on the fire department ad hoc committee, voted against involving the city, as did Clerk Michele Palevich.
The board also voted to allow Fire Chief Dave Robbins to continue the hiring process for a job candidate who is attending college in Saginaw and expected to graduate in May. The hiring is pending the candidate filing required paperwork and passing background checks. The hire is also contingent on the man having a valid work visa, as he is from Canada.
sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com
A pair of key issues regarding the fire department were tabled until a future meeting, after technical difficulties threw a monkey wrench into the Alpena Township Board of Trustees meeting Monday.
Discussions on the township’s fire department, and information about a public input session regarding it, were shelved, for now.
The fire department is extremely understaffed, and the City of Alpena is currently manning the north station to assist in emergency response.
From the meeting’s onset, there were bugs with audio and video. After about 20 minutes of troubleshooting, some of the trustees who were at home, quickly drove to the township offices to meet in person.
sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com
ALPENA TOWNSHIP Last year, the Alpena Township Board of Trustees began its fiscal year with a balanced budget, and it hopes to repeat that accomplishment this budget cycle.
Matching revenues to expenses may prove more difficult this year, however, as uncertainty on state revenue sharing could impact the township’s general fund.
Another financial hurdle may be the unknown cost of rebuilding the township’s fire department, which makes the public safety fund budget murky now. The department is woefully understaffed and the township has contracted the Alpena Fire Department to help fill in the gaps.
The township began this fiscal year with estimated general fund revenue of $1.7 million and expenses of $1.7 million. It started the fiscal year with $913,638 in its general fund savings account.
sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com
News File Photo
Alpena Township Fire Capt. John Clements gets ready to climb out of a fire truck after returning from the scene of a car crash in this December 2020 News archive photo.
ALPENA TOWNSHIP The Alpena Township Board of Trustees has taken its initial steps to restructure and rebuild the township fire department after finding itself severely short-staffed at the end of 2020.
The shortage, caused by a wave of retirements and employees leaving for other jobs, meant long hours for the two remaining full-time firefighters, already resulting in one missed response to a medical emergency, officials said. The township has contracted with the city to fill in for the next six months, but city crews weren’t yet on the job when the call was missed.