The nearly insolvent City of Pontiac expects to save $3 million by dissolving its fire department and merging it with the Waterford Fire Department.
Pontiac's 57 firefighters agreed to the plan Wednesday after receiving layoff notices Saturday.
As part of the merger, two fire stations in Pontiac will be closed as the city enters into a 10-year contract with Waterford. The cost is about $6.2 million a year for the first four years, followed by increases each year commensurate with increased salaries earned by former Pontiac firefighters now with Waterford.
The move rounds out cost-cutting measures in public safety that also included outsourcing police duties starting Aug. 1 to the Oakland County Sheriff's Office.
"I think residents will be happy," said Pontiac emergency manager Louis Schimmel, who negotiated both deals.
According to Schimmel, the contract terminations include options for early retirements, a $15,000 onetime payment for other firefighters who apply for positions in the Waterford Fire Department, and a promise to pay one year's salary to any firefighters laid off from Waterford in the first three years.
Schimmel said he and union President Damon Harney had agreed the layoff notices issued Saturday were part of a tentative agreement reached Dec. 22 after three months of negotiating. He said the notices had to be presented over the holidays to give firefighters time to apply for Waterford jobs by the Tuesday deadline.
The first day of combined service will be Feb. 1.
Calls to Harney were not returned Thursday.
Pontiac Mayor Leon Jukowski said the majority of the city's fire calls are emergency medical calls that require an ambulance. Those services will be outsourced to a Pontiac company. "We're not anticipating any change in response times," Jukowski said.
The two closed fire stations will be handed over to Waterford. One of the stations is near an empty auto plant and will be maintained in case development in the area makes having an active station necessary, Waterford Supervisor Carl Solden said.
Solden said the combination of the two departments, which will leave some 105 firefighters covering both cities, won't result in any noticeable changes to Pontiac residents.
"Pontiac won't skip a beat, and neither will we," he said. "I'm excited about this."
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
