Saline Fire Department Becomes an Authority

Saline Fire Authority

The Saline Area Fire Board met on Wednesday, May 6^th, and acknowledged that all jurisdictions that contract with the Saline Fire Department for fire services, including the City of Saline and Lodi, Saline, and York Townships, provided verification that they had adopted the Articles of Incorporation, creating the Saline Fire Authority.

Fire authorities were created under Michigan Act 57 of 1988, the Emergency Services to Municipalities Act. The act allows local municipalities to create entities that provide emergency services. The authority’s jurisdiction comprises the total territory within the municipality. An authority is subject to all state laws.

Communities that receive emergency services from an authority are able to achieve cost savings because of the efficiencies achieved through combined service delivery. In addition, Saline Fire Chief Jason Sperle indicated that fire authorities are eligible for grants that are not available to single fire stations. Fire authorities also have the ability to levy a jurisdiction-wide tax to support emergency services. Municipalities that currently levy a fire services millage could consider pausing them.

Municipalities would pause millages rather than eliminate them because communities would still need the ability to raise revenue for emergency services if the authority’s millage were defeated.

The board agreed to develop a checklist of required procedural steps, which attorney Fred Lucas agreed to provide. The list will ensure that it defines the necessary steps and complies with state law. State law requires a 180-day period between the creation of an authority and the transfer of equipment and personnel from the fire department to the authority.  

York Township

David Ludwig reported that York is in the process of transitioning emergency services currently provided by the Milan Fire Department for a portion of York Township to the Saline Fire Authority. It is expected that the transition will take up to a year. He cited that Saline currently provides emergency services within much of the area. There would still be mutual aid between the departments.

Chief Sperle said that the department had the capacity to provide emergency services to the entire area. With that assurance, the board formally accepted the inclusion of all of York Township.

Saline Township Consent Agreement with Related Digital

In the Saline Township consent agreement, Related Digital (RD) has committed seven million dollars to the fire department. In conversations between Chief Sperle and RD, he indicated that RD asked about the department’s equipment needs and were given a list. In subsequent conversations. RD shared with Chief Sperle the equipment they would give to the department.

Councilmember Dean Girbach, representative for the City of Saline, stressed the need for transparency in all transactions. There was agreement that donations to the department should be accepted, but all donations should include a signed agreement that once the donation is received, it becomes the sole property of the authority, and the board should be accountable when accepting donations. Given the sensitivity of RD and the data center, complete transparency is required.