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Firehouse agreement will end if modifications aren't made

Joint staffing deal between Fairborn, Beavercreek Twp. could expire

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By Christopher Magan, Staff Writer 2:20 PM Friday, December 25, 2009

BEAVERCREEK — Backers of a three-year-old joint staffing deal that was one of the first of its kind in Ohio said the agreement can be modified to make it more equitable to both sides rather than ending it all together.

“I think after a couple of years it’s good to reanalyze and make improvements,” said Debbie McDonnell, Fairborn city manager. “They (Beavercreek) haven’t been using us as much as they could have been. That’s not our fault.”

McDonnell says Beavercreek should be calling more often for the Fairborn fire engine the municipalities share as part of a deal to jointly staff the city’s Commerce Center Boulevard station. “They’re not using the quint (fire engine) to its fullest ability,” she said.

Beavercreek Twp. provides the two-year-old station’s ambulance, and Trustee Bob Glaser said the deal is unfair to taxpayers because the majority of calls the station answers are medical calls. “It’s a net loss to Beavercreek and a giant subsidy to Fairborn,” he said.

Fairborn fire officials estimate 61 percent of the more than 1,500 calls in 2007 and 2008 were to Fairborn for medical emergencies. Glaser said Fairborn is making thousands of dollars through medical billing for these calls, while Beavercreek taxpayers foot the bill for staffing, supplies and maintenance of the ambulance.

Looking to save money

He estimates the township spends about $750,000 annually on the agreement and could save even more money by eliminating some overtime if the township brings those firefighters back to the other four stations.

Firefighter unions from both municipalities have also told elected leaders the deal should cease for a variety of reasons, including that Fairborn’s union will not allow part-timers from Beavercreek to be in the station’s staff rotation.

Trustee Bob Stone said that restriction, not the expense of the pact, led him to join Glaser in September to vote to end the agreement in February.

The 2-1 vote among Beavercreek trustees, with Trustee Carol Graff in opposition, came just weeks before voters approved a permanent fire levy to help fund operations and future station improvements. The Beavercreek trustees and Fairborn council members met earlier this month to discuss modifying the pact before it ends Feb. 2.

Long-term impact

Stone, along with Graff and other supporters of the agreement, said they do not believe Glaser’s calculations of the expense to the township tell the whole story. Left out, they say, are the value of having the protection of a fire station and engine for the northeast part of Beavercreek. Officials expect the mostly rural area to develop, although the hundreds of homes planned for the area have not materialized because of tough economic conditions.

“It’s hard to calculate,” Stone said of the costs and benefits. “I didn’t see it include the cost of a fire station. Fairborn is probably winning the battle monetarily, but in the same token, I know what it would take to build a fire station out there.”

Graff and Fairborn officials are now trying to find a way to modify the agreement to keep it alive. Options being discussed are for Beavercreek to collect more medical billing money, a revision of the districts where the fire station responds and allowing part-timers to work in the station as long as they have the same level of training as full-timers, Graff said.

Fairborn has yet to work out the last issue with its union.

City Manager McDonnell said if the agreement ends in February, the city will be forced to move apparatus and possibly limit how the station is used because the city cannot afford to hire more firefighters to staff it.

“It would be a loss of revenue to the city,” she said.

McDonnell and other Fairborn officials say they want to keep the agreement going, even over the objections from their firefighters’ union. “I believe it is management’s decision on how to best serve the public,” McDonnell said.

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