Ypsilanti City Council members remain divided by a decision to not allow firefighters and state fire officials make a public presentation against the creation of a hybrid police and fire department.
The issue was brought back into the spotlight after Ypsilanti Fire Union President Ken Hobbs spoke during council's Tuesday public participation portion of the meeting.
.Courtney Sacco I AnnArbor.com
"Shame on you for not allowing us, the city of Ypsilanti firefighters on the agenda to present documentation strictly from a budget standpoint," Hobbs said. " The city manager claims there will be $2.1 million in savings to implement his PSO hybrid public safety plan. We have facts to counter this assumption."
AnnArbor.com reported last week that City Council Member Susan Moeller requested the presentation be added to a future council meeting after being approached by Hobbs. Moeller stated the possible creation of a hybrid model should be discussed more in-depth in the public, since it would affect citizens.
In order to have a presentation added to an agenda, a council member must first propose the addition and it must be seconded by another council member. Moeller failed to secure a second.
Moeller said council members cited union negotiations as their reason for not being interested in the public presentation, but Moeller and Hobbs said the presentation would not have discussed negotiations.
"It is not illegal for them to be on the agenda because there are negotiations," Moeller said, while addressing council. "It was decided that you folks didn’t want to hear them while there were negotiations."
Mayor Paul Schreiber said negotiations have been going on for awhile and slow-moving.
"Any discussion with council is really hopping over the city manger and going to council," Schreiber said. "And certainly there’s going to be no final decision made on public safety until we have the union contract settled with the fire department. We need to get the contract done first and then we can talk about public safety. Once we get the contract negotiated with the fire union, I would personally welcome a presentation by the firefighters."
Council Member Daniel Vogt
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Moeller interrupted Schreiber saying she couldn't let him continue with a statement she believed to be false and "misleading" because she believes there would be no point for a presentation once the contract is approved.
"Paul, I can’t let you continue like that," Moeller said. "If you already have a contract with them, I don’t get how you can listen to PSO after you already tried to put PSO in their contract. It's not making sense to me. I understand you folks don’t want to hear from the firefighters and they are employees of the city and we are the council and I think you should hear them but if you don’t, that’s your right. Why wouldn’t you want to hear their view before the contract?"
In April, council approved the Police Officers Association of Michigan contract, which contains language related to the possible creation of a hybrid department.
The contract allows the POAM to incorporate the position of public safety officer into their union. In the event that the city elects to create the classification of a public safety officers, unit members who become PSO's will receive seven percent above the police officer wage scale.
Earlier this year, City Manager Ralph Lange announced the city would pursue creating a hybrid police and fire department. Lange said the two departments would be stand-alone, but supplemented with cross-trained public safety officers who would be equipped to do both jobs.
The Ypsilanti hybrid model would cross-train police officers and firefighters to perform both duties. Officials said present city employees would have the option of being cross-trained.
Several firefighters and former Fire Chief Jon Ichesco have openly voiced their opposition to the hybrid model and urged the city to move forward with regionalization.
Hobbs cited Kalamazoo as an example, saying if the city were to convert back to traditional police and fire departments, it would save $7.9 million in personnel only. Kalamazoo has the state's largest public safety department with more than 200 cross-trained public safety officers.
"We use Kalamazoo as an example because Kalamazoo keeps being mentioned as this place where PSO works," Hobbs said. "These facts and the rest of the information we have, we weren’t allowed to present."
Council Member Daniel Vogt said he believes there is a misconception that council isn't considering the pros and cons of the creation of a hybrid police and fire department.
"That’s absolutely false," Vogt said. "I think that the purpose here is to save the city financially and to protect basic services. We need to find whatever method may work for our city. The pros and cons that other cities have faced are based upon their particular circumstances, their political circumstances, political will, their finances and their particular history.
"So its very difficult to make generalizations about public safety as it applies to this city because we have to pick a model that works whether it includes public safety on not. What has been discussed is a model that’s been fine tuned to fit our particular financial and social need."
Vogt said council welcomes anyone who may have an opinion about an issue affecting the city.
"Formally or informally, you don't have to make a formal presentation to send something in the mail or by email," Vogt said. "If you have something you want to talk about you're welcome to do it. You can come twice during public participation."
Hobbs said regardless of council's opinion, the public should be allowed to hear both sides.
"PSO needs to be discussed in an open forum and have input from residents," Hobbs said. "A prior decision that the Ypsilanti city council thought would be best for citizens, resulted in Water Street. If this council continues on the path it's going on, you’re going to have your own Water Street and it's going to be PSO."
Katrease Stafford covers Ypsilanti for AnnArbor.com.Reach her at katreasestafford@annarbor.com or 734-623-2548 and follow her on twitter.