Belleville delays plan to hire fire dept. advisor instead of fire chief

After a lengthy discussion on a proposal to embed a fire advisor in the Belleville Fire Department, the city council on Nov. 3 decided to give the city firefighters a chance to put together a proposal instead of bringing someone from the outside in to run the department.
Before the council was a recommendation from interim public safety director/police chief Kris Faull and interim city manager Steve Jones to approve contracting with Gregory Flynn d/b/a Three Corners LLC as an embedded advisor for the Belleville Fire Department.
Although not in the paperwork, when asked from the floor, mayor Ken Voigt said the cost is $9,600 for six months.
Chief Faull said Flynn would look for grants and administer them, set up a capital improvement plan, which has already been started, she said. She said it has been a year since the last Fire Chief Brian Loranger left the job. Chief Faull said since the duty crew was shut down, the police department has been hammered with emergency medical calls and she would like to hire a fire chief.
“I understand their frustration,” Faull said of the fire fighters present at the council meeting to speak on the subject. “A year without a leader.”
She said after the six months with Flynn, she would like to see a fire chief hired and have somebody to work with the fire fighters. She said those who had worked on the duty crew now have full-time jobs.
Fire fighter Ray Martin spoke as a member of the fire department and as a Victoria Commons resident, saying, “We don’t have a fire department in a sense.” He said his duty crew days had been Thursdays and Fridays and he had cleared his work schedule for that. “It’s scary being a resident. We know insurance rates will go up because there is no answer for a while after we call for help and then they have to call Van Buren.”
“We don’t want to drive firefighters away who have been here awhile,” Martin said, referring to retention. “It gets down to public trust. When they pick up the phone that we will come with help,” he said, referring to a fire at Johnny’s in Belleville. “It gets down to safety for the community and for the firefighters.”
“Our morale is at an all-time low,” Martin said. “We don’t have any stability. I became a fire fighter last year at 47 years of age to serve the community.”
The second fire fighter to speak was assistant chief Chris Zweng, who read from a statement he had prepared. That statement is published in today’s Independent. He said it is important to provide continuation and, as second in command, he had not been given the opportunity to lead the department when Chief Loranger left. He said a city-appointed director lacked any skill in the fire department and those in the department have pursued and managed grants over the past two decades.
He said historically, the next higher officer was promoted to chief and, “We are ready, willing, and able to lead.”
Councilman Jeremiah Beebe said an outside consultant gives the city a broader view.
Mayor Voigt said they cut the duty crew because the city cut every budget because of the problems with the overall city budget. He said the fire department was filling less than 50% of the shift and, “We have to be able to staff the crew.” He said right now there is money in the budget for a consultant. The next step in the process would be hiring a fire chief and, “We hope to be in better fiscal situation next June,” he said.
A fire fighter in the audience called out that the city said the duty crew had to be five days, but the fire department knew it could cover just three days.
Mayor Voigt said hiring a fire chief is a big transition and, “The next person in line doesn’t always work… We’ll go into the next budget year and look at reestablishing the duty crew and hiring a leader.”
Councilman Beebe said he has worked with consultants and that’s how consultants work. First, they will tell you what’s wrong and then you can hire him again to tell you how to fix it, he said, “double dip.”
“I am a union member,” Zweng said. “I cannot discipline. Why bring in someone else?”
“To make sure we get it right,” mayor Voigt said.
“We all make under $10,000 a year,” Zweng said.
Beebe said a consultant is an investment. He said a consultant makes sense, but it’s OK with him to table this item out of respect for the group of fire fighters present to get more information.
Zweng said they can’t resolve problems they don’t know about, referring to problems the mayor referenced.
Martin said everything he talked about is out the window if the council does this, saying it is paying somebody from the outside to fix problems on the inside that the insiders could fix.
Mayor-pro-tem Kelly Bates suggested the firefighters create an inhouse plan, but Zweng said they don’t know what the issues are and, “We can’t even hire anybody.”
Mayor Voigt said they will table this until the next meeting.
Beebe said he doesn’t want fire fighters to spend hours and hours on details and Zweng asked, “What do you want?”
Bates said they should tell the council what is needed and, “You can’t put a price on safety.”
Councilwoman Julie Kissel made no comments at all on the proposal.
In other business at Monday’s meeting, the council:
• Heard interim city manager Jones introduce Nathaniel Johnson as the city’s new Department of Public Works director. Although Jones provided no background information other than to say the new director was very well-qualified, Johnson told the Independent later that he had worked at Brownstown and had a S-1 water license. He lives in Allen Park;
• Held a one-minute public hearing during which no public spoke on a proposed change to the city charter regarding elections. Then the council voted unanimously to amend Chapter 9, Section 9.3 of the Belleville City Charter to change the city’s local elections from odd-numbered to even-numbered years;
• Approved a resolution to engage Corporate Benefit Solutions to provide benefits to employees and retirees effective immediately. Mayor Voigt said the city has been working on this for some time and it gives the “most bang for the buck”;
• Approved participation in PFAS Phase 2 class action litigation, which is without cost to the city unless it receives benefits to alleviate future PFAS pollution. The city attorney reviewed the agreement before it was submitted to the council;
• Took no action on a social media management proposal prepared by KSpringer Media Management for $500 a month, until a representative is present and gives the demonstration requested last May. Springer already has a contract with the city’s Downtown Development Authority. Jones said Springer has been helping the city do things pro bono and when asked how she got on the city’s sites, mayor Voigt said Springer’s group has the password to post on the city’s Facebook page. Bates said she asked for a demonstration last spring and they didn’t do it. She said it’s essential to have dialog with them;
• Approved details of Winter Fest as provided by the Belleville Area Chamber of Commerce, although no one was there to present the request to the city. Winter Fest will run from Thursday, Dec. 4, to Sunday, Dec. 7;
• Approved accounts payable of $579,901.47 for expenditures including $321,588.40 to Davenport Brothers Construction Co. for work on the new city hall at 330 Charles St.;
• Heard Jones report that all the park restrooms are winterized and closed for the season. He said the roof deck on the garage is in place at the new city hall and the floor is to be poured soon. He said the appraisal of the old city hall was done last Friday and it takes few weeks to get the results;
• Heard mayor Voight say the veterans’ banners were put up earlier that day. Four crews took just two hours to get them all up, he said; and
• Heard Chief Faull say the two new police cars are now operational. She also said on Saturday there will be breakfast for vets at 275 West Columbia Ave.