Council states they won’t be seeking an increase
By Barb Pert Templeton
The Algonac City Council hosted a public hearing at a recent meeting regarding the special assessment district for the city’s fire department.
While several residents spoke out during the public hearing at the May 20 meeting members of the council were anxious to defend the fire department.
Councilman Michael Bembas said ‘our fire department people are so underpaid it’s unbelievable.’
“And we’re not asking for an increase, I just want to make that very clear,” Mayor Pro Tem Dawn Davey added. “It’s still one percent and we’re not asking for anymore.”
Algonac resident Sarah Dennis spoke during the public hearing stating she didn’t know why the city requires funding for the special assessment district for the fire department. She said with the Headlee Amendment the city has been gathering and capturing a lot of money from people based on the market conditions.
“It’s kind of been put on auto pilot and you can see it and you can see the ala carting of everything, oh you pay here, now you pay here, you pay there and at what point does it end, do you think the spigot just runs endlessly?” Dennis asked. “And we tell you constantly we don’t want HUD housing here for the big banks, banks are getting into the building business now because it’s taxpayers’ money, so why would you give them tax breaks and make us pay for a fire department or for more full-time employees?”
Algonac Councilman Michael Bembas said officers with the Algonac Fire Department are unbelievably underpaid.
Dennis said she knows the city already pays a lot of money for police coverage with the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department and for cameras and other expenses.
“People don’t come up here (to the podium at meetings) because they feel like it’s falling on deaf ears, like you don’t listen so then they just replace you,” Dennis said.
Mayor Rocky Gillis interjected that Dennis had to keep her comments to the special assessment and could speak on other issues during public comments.
“I call it the great shame now, because it just seems that everybody gets on a board and it’s lets go along to get along,” Dennis said. “We might have to make some real changes up here, honestly, seriously. I come from a big family there’s a lot of us here and if we got involved, we could replace all of you.”
“And it sucks that we can’t trust you to make sound decisions and now you want to raise our water rates,” Dennis said.
She said fire fighting used to be a noble position that you did because you wanted to serve your community not to make a big paycheck.
“Which I get but we don’t have any more big paychecks to give you,” Dennis said. “So, think about that when you make your decisions and what you do.”
Algonac resident Eileen Tesch also spoke during the public hearing and said with all due respect she loves Fire Chief Jospeh Doan but there is still controversy related to the special assessment issue even getting on the ballot in 2024.
“I will simply ask that you not raise the millage on this fire special assessment district, leave it at one percent and let’s deal with what else we need to do,” Tesch said.
Bembas then asked for the floor and spoke out about the fire department crews dedication.
“It’s kind of been put on auto pilot and you can see it and you can see the ala carting of everything, oh you pay here, now you pay here, you pay there and at what point does it end, do you think the spigot just runs endlessly?”
Algonac resident Sarah Dennis
“They do an excellent job, that little one percent that we ask to sustain the services that we do have, we don’t know how lucky this community is to have people like Joe Doan and his staff working on our fire department,” Bembas said. “I wouldn’t do it for what they get paid.”
Should the public happen to read something different online, Bembas said he wanted them to know that “our fire department is unbelievably dedicated to protecting our community.”
“The one percent millage thing is well worth keeping them,” he added.
Councilwoman Cathy Harris stated that the fire department members are noble, honorable and certainly have integrity.
During council comments at the end of the council meeting, Harris reiterated her support of the fire department.
“We have integrity and we have noble people that work there and it is an honorable position,” Harris said. “It is an honorable place to be; I like the guy that runs the place and my granddaughter thinks the sun rises and set on him; I just want to say that I think we have a very good thing with our fire department and I don’t want it to change.”
The council is expected to the address the fire department special assessment at its next meeting on June 3.
