MOUNT VERNON – Mount Vernon is one reading of an ordinance away from green-lighting a three-year contract to provide College Township and Kenyon College with fire and emergency medical services.
The measure approving the $500,000 annual agreement ($1.5 million over three years) received its second reading on Monday. The money would primarily cover personnel costs to staff the Gambier fire station 24/7 with three part-time firefighters. That amount is nearly $433,000 of the annual cost. Another $13,763 will be needed for the annual cost of promoting three firefighters to lieutenant to meet the contractual requirement of one lieutenant always being on shift in Gambier.
Additional equipment, gear, fuel and vehicle maintenance each year is projected to cost a little more than $23,000. Increased administration costs and fire-prevention needs, such as fire inspections, would take another $25,000. Uniforms for new hires was estimated to be a $5,000 annual expense.
The College Township Fire Department scheduled a virtual meeting on Zoom for Thursday, April 29, to decide whether to accept the contract for Mount Vernon to operate its EMS and fire services from June 1 to May 31, 2024. To learn more, visit the township’s fire department Facebook page at facebook.com/College-Township-Fire-Department-87950474145. Lora King, human resources for the College Township Fire Department, also may be reached with questions at lking@collegetownshipfd.com.
Safety-Service Director Rick Dzik said new staffing costs are for three part-time positions per day, plus the additional salary costs to promote one existing firefighter per day to lieutenant. Full-time personnel assigned to College Township are already city employees, with only the salary increase of promotion being a new cost. He noted that two of the part-time personnel would be stationed in Mount Vernon at the main fire station. They would replace two full-time personnel (a firefighter who is being promoted to lieutenant and another full-time firefighter/paramedic) who will be assigned to the station in College Township.
The staffing plan assures that the Fire Department has the same makeup of crews across its response district, Dzik said. A full-time paramedic ensures that every ambulance call will have paramedic-level staffing. Part-time employees who have only attained EMT certification can drive the ambulance while the paramedic provides a higher level of care.
The Mount Vernon City Council discussed the contract proposal in a committee meeting on Monday night and then heard the second reading of the ordinance.
Dzik said College Township provided mutual aid 40 times in the past year, but he did not have the number of times Mount Vernon returned the favor. No revenue was exchanged in either situation.
“The question that people are having is why are we doing this with somebody and not receiving anything in return,” Dzik said. “But we already are doing something and not receiving something. We’re already going out there and providing the service.”
So why not have a contract in which the City does get paid, Dzik argued.
Mount Vernon has reached an agreement with the firefighters’ union to hire its first-ever part-time firefighters. As part of the plan to provide College Township with coverage, the City would hire 25 part-time firefighters. College Township firefighters would be considered for these roles. Also in the plan, the City agreed to continue Kenyon College’s firefighter intern program.
Dzik said the township’s ambulance is probably five or six years old, and its fire engine might be 10- to 12 years old.
“We’ve been getting about 20 years out of our engines,” he said.
Mount Vernon’s three ambulances handle 5,000 calls per year, while College Township’s ambulance has been handling 300-plus calls annually.
“There’s a very big difference,” Dzik pointed out. “Their mileage is lower. I don’t see the need to replace that equipment under the current contract.”
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