The merger of the Wayne and Westland fire departments will be ending Feb. 1 – about five months ahead of the merger agreement expiration date.
That means Wayne and Westland firefighters will work in their own cities unless their is a call out for Mutual or Automatic Aid by either department. The two departments will continue the cost-saving measure of sharing the services of Fire Chief Michael Stradtner.
"I kind of understand. What we do operationally works. But Wayne understands that there would be no fire authority with Westland," said Stradtner. "They need a new partner."
Wayne Mayor Susan Rowe requested that the resolution adopted by the Wayne Council be prepared and brought forward. It exercises the 60-notice provision for either of the cities to opt out the merger. The five-year agreement, aimed at sharing services and reducing expenses, would have expired June 30, 2017.
Both Wayne and Westland have added firefighters using a two-year federal SAFER grant. In Westland, that meant funding for 13 firefighters, four in Wayne. Having those additional firefighters – three have been hired – gives financially-strapped Wayne some breathing room while exploring options. Unfortunately, as Wayne hired it's fourth firefighter under the grant, Stradtner said one of the earlier hired grant-funded firefighters left for another department.
"When we originally merged, our response area maps were revised. We will be working with CLEMIS (Court Law Enforcement Management Information System) and dispatch to put it back to how it was," said Stradtner. "Wayne will respond to Wayne runs only. Westland will respond only to Westland runs,"
Rowe is slated to attend the Westland City Council meeting Monday while Westland Mayor William Wild plans to attend the Wayne City Council meeting the following day.
"They passed the resolution asking to terminate the agreement. It will give them a few months to look for an authority partner. They need to make changes in how they deliver fire services," said Wild.. "That's hard to do if they are partnered with us. We (he and Rowe) will go to the meetings so we can make sure this ends on a positive note."
That's important, he said, since Westland and Wayne have other partnerships such as sharing the multi-city emergency dispatching center housed at the Westland Police Department, sharing the services of Department of Public Services Director Ramzi El-Gharib and possibly, a merged district court. Currently, Westland 18th District Court and Wayne 29th District have concurrent jurisdiction.
"We're meeting with the courts this week," said Wild, a discussion about an eventual merger of the the two courts.
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