Tesch questions city spending practices
By Barb Pert Templeton
Voters in Algonac going to the polls on Feb. 27 are being asked for additional financial support for the city’s fire
department.
The ‘ask’ comes in the form of a ballot proposal for a special assessment that will provide dedicated funding for medical first responders and fire protection services.
The proposal calls for the City Council to determine annually a levy amount between zero (0) and five (5) mills. The current plan is to collect just one mil the first year if the proposal passes.
An approved 1-mill special assessment would cost the average residential home with $62,000 taxable value, $62 dollars a year or $5.16 a month or .17 cents a day.
A regular bi-monthly meeting of the Algonac City Council on Feb. 20 had officials sharing their thoughts on the fire department ballot issue. Councilman Corey Blair was absent from the meeting.
Prior to council comments Blue Water Healthy Living’s own Eileen Tesch, who resides in Algonac, spoke to officials during the public comments portion of the meeting.
Tesch expressed concern for the fire department seeking a special assessment which will bring additional costs to citizens when the city recently purchased a holiday tree for $17,000 and the old Algonac Elementary School for $185,000.
She also noted that it’s been reported that the school building could need as much as a $1 million in renovations.
“Not that we don’t love our fire chief and fire department, they are the best, but at this time with the way the economy is and people tightening their belts and they can’t put food on the table -maybe there could have been a better way,” Tesch said. “We’ll see what happens on the 27th but I just thought the timing, with the way you’re spending money, maybe there should be a second look at your expenditures.”
During council comments at the end of the meeting officials addressed Tesch’s concerns while also pronouncing their support of the upcoming special assessment for the fire department.
Councilman Michael Bembas said its important for people to realize that Algonac is an older community and as equipment is modernized for the fire department the costs for that equipment increases too.
“I love our fire department and I want to keep it the top-notch fire department that it is, we are one of the best rated fire departments in St. Clair County for our size,” Bembas said. “A lot of that goes to (Chief) Joe Doan and his crew they do an excellent job and I support them 100 percent.”
He said the city also needs to keep their fire department independent so the people retain the authority to say what happens there.
Councilman Ed Carter said he hopes to simply see everyone coming out to vote on Feb. 27.
Davey defends school purchase
Councilwoman Dawn Davey began her comments by stating ‘yes, we bought a tree and ladies and gentleman we bought a school, we bought 3.2 acres of incredible useable property.’
She continued, saying for seven years the school property was listed for $749,000 and was simply a vacant eyesore.
“I can’t for the life of me understand why that particular purchase would be an issue,
The Algonac City Council individually endorsed a special assessment for the city’s fire department, addressing the issue during the council comments portion of a Feb. 20 meeting.
This is something that has been discussed by people who live in this community for seven years and they wanted it gone,” Davey said.
She said the city now has an opportunity to turn the property into something that will make a difference for the kids and residents. She added that yes, they have money in the general fund but they have a pool, a boardwalk and streets that need to be taken care of now.
As for the funding for the fire department Davey said of the three local communities, Clay and Ira townships and Algonac, only Algonac has licensed medical first responders.
“Far be it for me to tell anyone how to vote on something but I think it’s incredibly important for everyone to have all the information,” Davey said. “If you don’t want to vote for it you don’t want to vote for, it but forgive me, please don’t base your vote on a pine tree.”
She said there’s more to look at it then a tree and buying a building
“Bust my chops about a tree I’m good with that but please don’t tie that into the things we need to move forward in this city, we’re starting to make some progress and we need to keep it that way,” Davey said.
Councilwoman Cathy Harris started out stating “we are not going to go backwards with our fire department.”
She went on to say she’s very pro police and fire and wants them to have whatever is necessary to make them successful. Harris added that she also agrees that lumping a Christmas tree purchase in with the fire department special assessment is “ridiculous.”
“I also don’t want to tell anyone how to vote; I just hope everyone sees things the way we see things,” Harris said.
Mayor Pro Tem Ray Martin said he agreed with all the things said by the council members and though he heard some negatives and some positives, he feels the positives are going to win out.
Mayor Rocky Gillis concluded the council comments by stating that he often hears the criticism that the city bought a school but didn’t know what to do with it. He said his thought is that the purchase was actually buying a nice piece of property, period.
He then shared a story of the local fire department responding to a call at his home involving his infant son and said as soon as Chief Doan showed up, he felt better. He said at no point did the fire department make them feel silly because they were scared new parents because their son had croup.
“They were then in three minutes, it was a long three minutes but they were there,” Gillis said.
“For the fire department (issue), we are putting it for a vote of the people, it’s the most Democratic way of doing it, let the people decide.”
