Friday, October 30, 2015

Firefighter union steamed over plan to merge fire, police

If voters approve the city's plan, firefighters would go from 24-hour to 12-hour shifts and do police clerical work in down time

Today at 10:58 AM

By FireRescue1 Staff

HARPER WOODS, Mich. — City officials are asking voters to approve a measure allowing them to combine the police and fire departments into a single entity.

Detroit News reported that the Harper Woods City Council unanimously approved a public safety implementation plan as a way to save the cash-strapped community millions of dollars.

The firefighters' union opposes the plan.

When a similar proposal was rejected in 2011, the union conceded to allow some police officers to fight fires.

"We gave them an inch, and now they want to take a mile," Harper Woods Professional Fire Fighters Local No. 1188 President Nathan Butler said. "At the time when we agreed to this, everyone was ecstatic because we were allowing the police onto the fireground, even though the residents said they wanted to keep police and fire separate."

Of the city's 25 police officers, 20 have been cross-trained to fight fires. There are also seven full-time firefighters.

If the measure is approved, no firefighters would lose their jobs. If they did leave the department, they would be replaced by cross-trained police officers. It will also turn 24-hour shifts into 12-hour shifts, and firefighters would perform clerical duties for the police department during down times.

"The city has been significantly financially strapped, and we simply can’t afford both a fire department and a police department," City Manager Randolph Skotarczyk said. "We can't keep paying people to be in the firehouse 24 hours, to eat and sleep, and just sit there waiting for a fire to happen when our volume is so low."

Skotarczyk said the area has less than 10 major structure fires per year, in addition to about 150 smaller fires.

"There’s constant training, checking equipment — it's ridiculous to say we’re sitting around doing nothing," Butler said. "The only reason we’ve seen savings is through the loss of personnel because of retirement or other reasons. If anything, it costs more because of raises they gave to police, and the cost of training them."

If the measure isn't approved, the city will be forced to hire an emergency manager.