The Milan News-Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
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Fire board discusses lease, moves on changes
City proposes increase in rent from $17,811 to $20,000 per year
By Brian Cox, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: April 24, 2008
In what has become a protracted negotiations process, the Milan Area Fire Board remains without a signed lease with the city of Milan for the fire department building on Wabash Street.
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The department has been renting the building from the city on a month-to-month basis for more than a year now.
The fire board April 17 turned over to its lawyer for review a revised lease presented by the city that proposes an increase in rent from $17,811 a year to $20,000.
The rental rate and responsibility for maintenance of the building have been sticking points in negotiations. The city initially was considering increasing the rent to what it estimated to be a fair market rate of around $35,000 to help offset the cost of maintaining the building. The fire board countered with a proposal that would lower the rent to about $4,000 a year and transfer maintenance responsibility to the fire department.
The city's latest proposal represents middle ground, said Milan Councilman Brett Moyer, who sits on the eight-member fire board along with Mayor Kym Muckler and representatives from York, London and Milan townships.
"This $20,000 represents a reduction of the fair market value, but an incremental raise toward that amount," Moyer told the board.
"I think we're getting very close if we're not there all ready," said York Township Supervisor Joe Zurawski.
Still, the board voted to have its attorney and the city attorney sit down to hammer out the final details in the hopes of coming up with a final draft by its next meeting in May.
Moyer, who had pressed for approval of the lease agreement that night, was frustrated with the delay.
"We've made edit after edit on this and here we are again," he said. "I can't believe we're going to go back over all these articles and start over."
One major point of contention was resolved earlier this month when it was uncovered that contrary to assertions that the city had failed to adequately maintain the building, it had, in fact, done considerable and regular work on it.
In late February, township inspectors toured the building to look for safety, health or structural violations and presented a report to the fire board and City Council.
The two-page memo outlined a series of necessary mechanical, plumbing and electrical repairs, which the city made in the next few weeks.
A leak in the roof was also repaired.
Muckler said the city has changed its accounting process to create a line item for repairs to the building to track the work more closely.
"It's not so loosey-goosey what's going on now with the building," she said.
The fire board last week also moved forward with initiating changing the fire department over from a Category 1 department to a Category 2. The controversial change is expected to reduce the paid-on-call department's runs because it will not be required to respond to non-life-threatening 911 calls, which will first fall to Huron Valley Ambulance.
The board made the move to forestall the need to become a full-time fire department.
"I've always felt we should try this and evaluate where we're at in a year," Muckler said. "We've had nothing but positive comments from area fire chiefs operating under Category 2."
Following the training of dispatchers on the new category, the change is expected to be fully implemented in mid-May.
"Let's try it for a year and see what happens," Zurawski said.
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