Pleasant Ridge Terminates Fire Contract with Ferndale

Ferndale officials received another letter Wednesday morning from Pleasant Ridge, notifying them that its 88-year fire protection contract would be terminated as of July 1, 2013.

This decision came Tuesday night at Pleasant Ridge's City Commission meeting. before this decision had a chance to go in front of the public governing body of Pleasant Ridge.

Pleasant Ridge officials said the city attorney, who wrote the letter, sent the earlier letter accidentally. "Our city attorney screwed up," Pleasant Ridge Mayor Ralph Castelli Jr. said at the meeting Tuesday.

The City Commission made the termination of its fire protection agreement with Ferndale official Tuesday night after a lengthy, passionate and contentious public comment about that city's fire protection and a potential public safety merger with Berkley.

In anticipation of a large crowd, Pleasant Ridge officials changed the meeting location from City Hall to the Pleasant Ridge Community Center on Ridge Road.

According to Tuesday's agenda, the commission was to discuss a notice to terminate the agreement with Ferndale; approve a fire protection agreement with Berkley; and authorize Pleasant Ridge City Manager Sherry Ball to continue negotiations with Berkley to form a public safety merger.

Despite heated discussion against the termination of fire protection service from Ferndale and questions about a public safety merger with Berkley, all three items were unanimously adopted.

"This is the first step of a process," Castelli reminded the audience.

What the public had to say

The frustrated audience expressed a litany of concerns, including the distance between Berkley and Pleasant Ridge, issues related to crossing Interstate 696 during emergencies, the loss of a community connection with Pleasant Ridge police officers and the desire for a vote on the issue of public safety.

"You held a public forum for liquor licenses, but why not with this public safety discussion?" Jason Krzysiak said as the crowd applauded. "I ask that you table these items and give us the courtesy of a public forum, a ballot or a millage vote."

"Voting and enacting this without involvement of the residents in this town is close to not getting elected again," resident Mike McDonald said.

Resident Jessica McCarthy, co-owner of the Pleasant Ridge diner , also called for a vote.

"My concern here is this decision you (City Commission) all back 100 percent. I don't believe it is up to you, and if you have any respect for the citizen, you'll let us vote," she said to applause. "You have the info, we're all intelligent people, let us make that decision."

McCarthy also asked Berkley Public Safety Deputy Director Robert North, who was in attendance, how long it would take to get to across Woodward Avenue from Berkley in the event of an emergency. North said an exact figure is not available.

"I'd like to have facts before my police department is Berkley's (police department)," she said.

However, resident Amanda Van Duesen saw the issue in a different way.

"I'm open to public safety arrangement with Berkley," she said. "But a lot of questions have been raises that deserve direct answers.

"A lot of people have come out saying we want this to stay the same way," she said. "But because of state budgets and revenue cuts, they aren't going to stay the same way. They are going to change. So how are we going to change? We have to explore this and look for ways to explore changing."

Ferndale weighs in

"It was great to see the public support of the Fire Department," said Ferndale Fire Chief Kevin Sullivan, who is also a Pleasant Ridge resident. "It was tragic in a sense to hear the people speak loud and clear, and then council voted unanimous again that."

Ferndale interim City Manager Mark Wollenweber said Ferndale would continue to abide by the contract until July 1, 2013. "We will continue to offer our premier services for the length of the contract," he said Wednesday afternoon.

Wollenweber said Pleasant Ridge wants to get a fire service contract less than $200,000. He said continued negotiations remain to be seen but that Ferndale would never close a door on negotiations.

Talks of consolidation didn't start yesterday

Ball said Pleasant Ridge has been looking into consolidating services in some way for the past 10 years. Currently, Berkley handles Pleasant Ridge's dispatch.

Negotiating a public safety agreement is a continuation of this process, she said.

"This did not start up a year ago," Ball said. "We've been working on this for 10 years. This is a benefit to the city of Pleasant Ridge."

Castelli agreed. "We want to control the cost of fire protection but put services and manpower on the streets," he said.

Pleasant Ridge's contract with Ferndale will cost $280,000 this year and $265,000 in 2012.

Also on Tuesday, Pleasant Ridge approved a fire agreement with Berkley that will start July 1, 2013, if Pleasant Ridge has, in fact, parted ways with Ferndale or if a public safety merger isn't established between Pleasant Ridge and Berkley. .

Under the agreement with Berkley, Pleasant Ridge would pay $104,000 for the year beginning July 1, 2013; $109,000 for the year beginning July 1, 2014; and a fee to be set in 2015, if needed.

Castelli said the negotiations with Ferndale about the two communities' 88-year fire protection agreement have been at times contentious at times through the decades, which is why the two-year notice is in place.

Ball said that undergoing a public safety agreement with Berkley would combine Pleasant Ridge's six officers with Berkley's 26. During the evening, Castelli told a resident that he felt Pleasant Ridge was currently underprotected.

Pleasant Ridge City Commissioner Frank Rubino said that when he worked in Fraser from 1967-1996, that city had a Public Safety Department. "There was apprehension at the beginning. But this is tremendously cost-effective. You don't have six to eight guys sitting in a fire station, waiting to go on a fire run," he said. "It's a good philosophy and a good policy. We will be very, very happy with it."

Dan Dawe of the Michigan Professional Fire Fighters Association disagreed with Rubino. "Public safety is touted as very cost-effective, but it's not. ... If you cut these costs, you are cutting these services," he said. "You cannot do both jobs simultaneously. You can't fight a fire without tools."