Liberty union leader, chief want fire station open

By Jeanne Starmack | August 28, 2014 at 12:02a.m.

LIBERTY

The Liberty Township fire chief and the firefighters’ union president want the trustees to reopen the Belmont Avenue fire station.

Trustees closed the station, one of two in the township, July 18 after fiscal officer Steve Shelton projected a 150,000 to $250,000 shortfall in the department’s budget for the end of 2015, Shelton said Wednesday.

Township officials also said they are working with the fire department to reduce overtime, and they are not replacing positions that are and will be open until they have the money.

Township attorney Mark Finamore said Tuesday that overtime costs have pushed up the department’s operational costs.

Closing the Belmont Avenue station, one of two in the township, is not saving the township much money, said Justin Graham, president of International Firefighters Local 2075. Fire Chief Gus Birch said he agrees. The utility bills for the station, Birch said, are approximately $2,000 to $2,500 a month. He still has to pay employees no matter where they are, he pointed out.

“I understand we’re trying to live within our means,” he said. “We’re trying to cut costs. I think it saves a little but not a significant amount of money, but that’s not my decision.”

Birch said he is doing the best he can to limit overtime.

Graham said the department’s contract mandates three full-time firefighters on a four-person shift, but part-timers are offered the fourth spot if no other full-timer wants it.

Graham also said the closing leaves the northern and western parts of the township, where Birch estimates there are about 5,000 homes, as well as Belmont Avenue businesses, affected by a longer response time from the remaining station on Logan Way — eight to 10 minutes as opposed to three or four.

Birch said he emailed the trustees Wednesday that he would like to see the Belmont Avenue station reopen Monday.

Shelton said the township has discussed waiting until real-estate taxes are available in September before deciding on whether to reopen the station.