TRAVERSE CITY — Three of five members of the Peninsula Township fire board have joined their fire chief and resigned their positions, alleging they cannot get the support needed from the township board to fund adequate emergency services.
Recent discussions by township board members about selling a 27-foot rescue boat with fire-fighting capabilities and side-scan sonar, the only one on Grand Traverse Bay, prompted the resignations. But fire board members said the issues go beyond the boat. They said they have been trying for years to resolve the staffing shortage and firefighter housing issues along with the provision of advanced life support ambulance service to residents but are continually thwarted by some township board members.
John Sprenger, who resigned as fire board chairman, said he doesn't believe the majority of the township board grasps what it takes to run a modern-day fire department on an isolated peninsula where few firefighters live or work.
"I think they grasp that they need to do something," Sprenger said. "But when we make a proposal it will get beat up and chewed through and they will want to set up another committee and go through everything two or three times.
"You can only keep beating that drum for so long," Sprenger said.
The fire deparment is short people, firefighting apparatuses and adequate fire stations. He called the recent move by some township board members to sell the rescue boat "a disgrace to the people it serves."
Township Treasurer David Weatherholt said a minority of the board might want to sell the rescue boat but a majority are simply concerned about the township's ability to staff it. Weatherhold said he wants to see if they can find a partner agency to help.
"If the boat goes out we don't have enough people left to staff our stations and go out on calls," Weatherholt said.
Township Clerk Monica Hoffman said things are running fine with the fire department and no decision has been made about the boat.
"We want to talk to the guys, see how they use it," Hoffman said. "I haven't made a decision."
Weatherholt said he believes the township board will support the move to advanced life support and a new fire station, but no one can agree what the station should entail. The township board set up a committee of three township board members and two fire board members to address the fire boat, a new station and a move to ALS.
He said the key issue is to get hard financial numbers that work with the township budget.
"The (fire board) wants more money and we want to save money, and it's a push-and-pull kind of thing," Weatherholt said.
Peninsula Township approved a budget at 1.1 mills in property taxes which raises about $700,000 to provide fire protection and basic ambulance service to its residents. The board can raise the levy to 1.4 mills if needed.
Residents in East Bay, Peninsula and Garfield townships pay twice as much to support the Metro Fire Department. Blair Township has a budget of $1.5 million for its stand-alone ambulance and fire services, which include advanced life support. Its residents pay 4 mills.
The Peninsula Department has been without a fire chief since February when Steve Ronk, hired on a two-year contract to put together and implement a plan to upgrade the fire department, resigned over a lack of support at the township board level.
Sprenger said Ronk ruffled some feathers in the township but the fire board thought he did a great job.
"(Ronk) did a wonderful job bringing the department up to speed," said Steve Ball, a member of the fire board who did not resign. "Call volume is up quite ... a bit and he shored up inadequacies right away."
Ball, a lieutenant with the Traverse City Fire Department, said Peninsula's isolation puts it in a tight spot because it doesn't have a lot of calls and its choices are limited when it comes to partnering with other agencies.
Ball said Ronk looked at both the cost of building a full stand-alone service or finding a partner and recommended the township contract with Traverse City for both fire services and advanced life support as the most cost-effective option.
The fate of the recommendation now rests with the township board, which will hold a special meeting Monday at 9 a.m. to discuss the future of the fire board, safe boat and other fire department issues.
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