UCO Fire & Rescue meets with trustees

By CYNTHIA AUKERMAN

News-Gazette reporter

Members of the Union City, Ohio Fire and Rescue Department called a meeting Thursday with Ohio township trustees over the proposed contract for services developed by Union City, Ind.

The action came after the UCO council Monday night voted 4 to 2 to authorize council members Bill Bruggeman and Tony Maloy to continue negotiations with UCI over the contract proposal. Council members Brad Horsley and David Addington voted against the proposal, and Maloy, Bruggeman, Meta Sue Livingston and Sandy Moore voted for it.

Pam Keen, assistant chief for UCO's emergency medical services, said her department members wanted the trustees to know their position on the contract proposal.

"We would be all for consolidation, but this contract is not consolidation," Keen said. "We would be dissolved."

Steve Holden, another UCO officer, said, "We have worked too hard for too many years to let that happen."

For fire service, the UCO Fire Department covers 75 percent of Mississinawa Township, 60 percent of Washington Township and 100 percent of Jackson Township, all in Ohio. It provides emergency medical service to all three townships. The UCI Fire Department provides fire and rescue service by contract for Jackson (Ind.) Township and Wayne Township (Ind.).

Union City's two fire departments have a mutual aid agreement on fire and rescue, but for several months early this year the UCI department was responding more than normal to UCO calls when that department couldn't respond in a timely manner. In March UCO Mayor Jim Nelson went to UCI's fire chief, Tim Crawford, and asked for help.

With that background, Nelson, Bruggeman and Maloy talked with UCI officials, who eventually made a written proposal to provide fire and rescue service for the Ohio side on a contract basis. That contract called for a payment by the village of $125,000 a year and also dealt with equipment.

Keen said the personnel issues that had been involved in poor response times had been resolved.

Mark Wright, assistant fire chief, said his department's response times had been greatly improved.

Wright said he and other members of the department are still working on their own proposal for a consolidation of services between Union City's two fire departments. He added, "We want to make sure all our Ts are crossed and the Is dotted so we can provide the best services for citizens on both sides of the State Line."

On Friday morning, Nelson said he had not known anything about the meeting with the Ohio township trustees.

Concerning the proposed contract with UCI, Nelson said, "It's council's call. I feel we are going to have to cut back. We might go back to providing just a 911 service, no transports. If we do that, then the village will have to budget money for the department."

For a number of years UCO Fire and Rescue has been totally self-supporting through its transfer (non-emergency) service. It can spend only what it makes through ambulance calls. Members say their department pays for its own insurance, workman's comp, supplies and equipment, as well as $28,000 toward the salaries of the village's fiscal officer and the tax administrator.

The UCI Fire Department provides fire and rescue service by contract for Jackson (Ind.) Township and Wayne Township.

UCI Mayor Bryan Conklin said the contract proposal was just a document for discussion. He has held one meeting with government officials from several area jurisdictions about ways to consolidate services and is planning other meetings.

"We're moving forward," Conklin said.