Dan Restle spoke at the Jan. 17 Perrysburg Township Trustees meeting.
ROSSFORD — Rossford City Council will discuss the options for a fire department at a committee of the whole meeting planned for Monday at 6 p.m. at the rec center.
Council at its Jan. 8 meeting was presented with three options: Developing a stand-alone full-time department, forming a fire district with one or more neighboring communities, and contracting with a neighboring community.
Council members Caroline Eckel and Rachel Tinney said at council’s Jan. 22 meeting that they’ve had a lot of people comment to them about the plans.
Fire department union representative Chris Segura said it appeared no forward progress had been made since council presented its three options for fire service.
Perrysburg Township residents are suggesting you keep your mouth shut, and the township trustees have said open meetings are necessary to discuss taking over fire and EMS services from the city, Segura said.
He asked if any other options have been explored other than the three that have been presented, and suggested the idea of having a full-time department supplemented by part-time personnel.
The department’s hands are tied with recruiting new members due to the possibility of the department not existing in a couple of months, Segura said.
Perrysburg Township appears to be the neighboring community if Rossford picks option number three.
“The mayor’s got to keep his mouth shut. That’s not politically correct but I’m morally correct, not politically correct,” said Trustee Gary Britten at the township meeting held Jan. 17.
Trustee Joe Schaller said with social media throwing out rumors, there seems to be people who know more about this than we do.
Township residents and a past Rossford mayor are not sold on the idea of partnering with Rossford for fire service.
Dan Restle asked at the Jan. 17 trustees’ meeting if there was anything new about the rumor that Rossford was offering the township up as a partner for fire service.
There are three options with three costs, and they don’t know what we will charge if they enter into an agreement with us, Britten said.
Restle also wasn’t happy about Rossford annexing land away from the township and then asking for help to provide fire coverage.
“I don’t think we should be doing it. I think we should be sending a letter to the commissioners denying any further annexations until they can take care of the area they’ve already got,” he said.
The township doesn’t bill Rossford or any neighbors for fire services as there are mutual aid agreements, said fire Chief Tom Brice.
Automatic aid should be billed, so until they decide on what they want to do, you should set up a fee schedule and charge them for service, Restle said.
“It may change their decision on who they want to use for fire protection,” he said.
Britten said the township will hold a public hearing to discuss the issue.
“I have said this from the beginning. There will be a public hearing on this,” he said.
Rossford can choose whatever options it wants, but we can still say no, he said.
Administrator Jon Eckel said the township was working on some kind of a proposal.
Any proposal will be good for Perrysburg Township and Rossford, but until that time, he won’t issue a comment.
“When we are happy with it … we’ll have something to present to all of our citizens,” Eckel said.
Louie Bauer, former mayor of Rossford, said he has heard it be described as a merger, a termination of the Rossford department and as a contractual arrangement.
Eckel said it was not a merger and would be contractual services.
It makes sense to have it multi-year, he said.
Rossford’s mayor was on TV and made it sound like this was a done deal, Britten said.
Rossford has a history of not paying its share, Britten said, giving an example of a roundabout in the township as well as “the big hill” where the proposed amphitheater was supposed to be.
Bauer pointed out Rossford can’t sign a multi-year contract without a guaranteed funding source, which is does not have.
The city has a 3.8-mill levy that pays for its fire services.
There are too many questions that need to be asked, Bauer said.
Eckel said there are committees that will look into every potential aspect of this potential contractual relationship.
“When we are ready to present something, we guarantee you it will be accurate, and it will be something we will stand behind,” he said.
Rossford Mayor Neil A. MacKinnon III said at the council meeting the public can voice its thoughts and feelings at the committee of the whole meeting Monday.
He said it was the council’s role to decide, but he’d prefer sooner rather than later.
“We don’t want to rush this because we recognize what a huge decision it is,” Eckel said.
Council member Zachary Owen said he knew people wanted to know the decision.
Council member Rachel Tinney said although they haven’t been presented with other options, that doesn’t mean other options won’t be considered.
“We need to take the time to do it right,” she said.
