MILLBURY – Lake Township voters spoke in November and told trustees they didn’t want to pay for a full-time fire department.
Now township trustees are asking residents what they want instead.
“We want to throw it out to the residents to see what they want in a fire department,” said Trustee Richard Welling. “Do they want us to advance into the 21st century or do they want us to go back to the 1950s.”
Trustees announced at Tuesday’s meeting they are forming a citizens fire committee to determine what kind of fire department will be supported.
A 4.2-mill continuing tax to fund a full-time fire department failed Nov. 7 by more than 1,000 votes. There were many negative comments about the fire department and its leadership posted on social media and in letters to the editor in the newspaper.
Welling said a lot of comments made on social media were false, but he didn’t want to discuss what had happened in the past.
Letters will be sent to village councils within the township asking for volunteers to meet and make recommendations for what directions citizens want the fire department to go, he said.
Getting people face to face is an important part of the process, said fire Chief Barrett Dorner, rather than on social media where people hide behind the keyboard.
Dorner said he believes the biggest reason the levy failed was the cost to taxpayers.
“For the longest time, the citizens have gotten an amazing return on investment when we’re only calling in people when we need them. But the problem is, we need our people so often, we’re burning them out,” he said.
There are 12 volunteers assigned to the station in Millbury and 17 assigned to the station in Walbridge.
We can’t sustain the department having volunteers come from home, Dorner said.
Only one person was signed up on New Year’s Eve, and a captain was called in and paid overtime for two EMS calls, he said.
He acknowledged there were strong emotions about having a volunteer department, “but this is not a social club, this isn’t something we can just let exist. It’s something that has to serve the citizens.”
Dorner said it is the negative comments on social media that has slowed down recruitment.
“We’ve got to remedy this. Not only is it hurting people who are already here, but if we have to continue (with volunteers), we have to keep recruiting and no one wants to work for a fire department that isn’t supported by its community,” he said.
Dorner took a morale survey of his firefighters, with one respondent replying, “just wish our residents were a little more appropriate on social media posts regarding the department and our members.”
Dorner said the survey showed a lot of comments made on social media being portrayed as firefighters with the department were untrue.
“If we don’t have that discussion, internally and externally, we can’t fix those issues,” he said.
People wanting to serve on the committee are invited to send a letter of interest to the township office, 27975 Cummings Road, Millbury, OH 43447.
If a resident wants to serve on the committee, Trustee Melanie Bowen-Greenwald said she can’t imagine them saying being turned away.
There are valuable insight and ideas out there and getting those people in the same room to share ideas on how to improve the fire department will benefit the community, Dorner said.
Welling cautioned they want people with an open mind willing to give positive feedback.
“We’re not going to revisit what happened during the levy,” he said.
Welling said he had two people already interested, but he wanted to get a wide variety of the community, including farmers.
“Positive discussion would be much appreciated,” said Bowen-Greenwald, who was newly elected to the board in November.
“We can always do things better, but you can’t fix it if you don’t know it’s broke,” she said.
It’s about moving forward, she said.
“There are some significant issues that need to be discussed and how we’re going to move forward,” she said. “If you’ve got any clear-cut, good ideas, we want to hear them.”
Also at the meeting, trustees:
• Elected Bowen-Greenwald as trustee chair and Lorie Davis as trustee vice-chair.
• Held a moment of silence for Sterling “Butch” Rahe, a Toledo firefighter who died New Year’s Day.
• Heard complaints about ditch work on Drouillard Road and asphalt being dumped on Woodville Road.
