Sumpter board hires Rick Brown as full-time fire chief at $58,240

Acting Fire Chief Rick Brown was promoted to full-time fire chief by the Sumpter Township Board of Trustees at its June 22 zoom meeting.
Chief Brown will be paid $58,240 plus benefits without medical reimbursement.
This was a recommendation of the Human Resources Committee.
Chief Brown replaces part-time Fire Chief Joe Januszyk who the board fired in a 5-2 vote on April 27 after more than eight years as chief.
Trustee Matthew Oddy, a member of the Human Resources Committee, said Public Safety Director Luke recommended who to hire.
“We should take some time and discussion,” said Trustee Peggy Morgan of the move to hire Brown. “This is the first time I heard of it. Hello, I’m a board member. This is the first time I heard of it.”
Director Luke said he sent a letter to the Human Resources Committee to recommend a full-time fire chief and that Rick Brown to be named full-time fire chief.
Trustee Morgan repeated she didn’t know about this.
Chief Brown said he had discussions about his wants and decided I would be willing to do this to continue the great service we provide.
“I was happy with the recommendation from the director,” he said. “Happy to fill the void Chief Januszyk left. He said he talked to his employer and, “It’s a young person’s job” and decided to retire to do this.
Luke said, “Chief Brown has impressed me in the last two months.” He said he has served on the fire department for 36 or 37 years.
“I have known Chief Brown for many years,” agreed Trustee Morgan. “Full time should have been done a long time ago.”
At the end of the meeting, Chief Brown thanked everyone for their kind words. He said he had 37 years of experience with the department and, “You have my word I will not let any of you down.”
Also, during the two-hour meeting on June 22, the board:
• Accepted the resignation, with regret, of police officer Joseph Hogan effective June 25 and approved hiring Patrick Dervishi as a full-time police officer with pay starting at the six-month pay scale. Public Safety Director/Police Chief said he was very impressed with the “young man” and he will be a great addition to the department. Dervishi said it would be an honor and privilege to serve this community;
• Approved hiring Curtis Lundsford and Ronald Jeffries as paid, on-call firefighters, contingent on them passing physical and drug tests. Lundsford is a trained fire fighter in Van Buren Township and Jeffries has no training;
• Approved the recommendation by the planning commission for amendments to Section 2.2 of the zoning ordinance, concerning definitions and Section 5.8 on Home Businesses and Article 9: Signs. Trustee Don LaPorte abstained from the vote since he has a home business;
• Removed from the agenda appointment of a treasurer since they did that at a special meeting on June 16;
• Approved having Hennessey Engineers look at system improvements for the drinking water system and a DWRF Water Main Replacement Program. They will bring this back to the township and then submit a contract. The board will approve the ability to go forward;
• Heard Trustee Tim Rush, who is board liaison for Parks and Recreation and the Chamber of Commerce, report the Parks and Recreation Commission has been having a problem getting a quorum to meet and they are talking with the township attorney about reducing the size of the commission. He said he had nothing from the Chamber;
• Learned Treasurer Vincent Warren has not chosen a deputy treasurer yet and the treasurer’s office is in transition. Warren said he has posted the position internally for candidates and then will put it out to the public and make a decision;
• Voted unanimously to go to live meetings and remove all restrictions. Morgan’s motion was seconded by Trustee Matt Oddy. Clerk Esther Hurst said remote work is suspended and all can come back to work;
• Heard Finance Director/Deputy Supervisor Michelle Cole say Forgotten Harvest will start distributions of free food in Sumpter from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. on July 26 and will be there the second and fourth Mondays of the month, with the first three sessions being used to determine how many will come. They are asking the community to step up as volunteers; and
• Heard Deputy Cole read a question by zoom from Eric Partridge asking when there will be nine members of the planning commission, as the board voted have early this year and why three board members are wearing baseball caps during the board meeting. On the planning commission question, Oddy said they haven’t added any new board members to the commission and they can leave it at the current seven. Morgan said the board did vote on going to nine members. Oddy said it’s up to the board or they could rescind the motion. As to the hats, Bowman replied he was wearing the hat, “Because, that’s what I do.” Oddy said he was wearing a “Support the Blue” hat to honor the Sumpter police department. Rush’s statement was hard to understand because Bowman was speaking at the same time, pointing to his hat with a U of M logo on it ,saying that’s where his money went. LaPorte said he would have a hat, too, but he couldn’t find it.