City, township continue fire pact

by JOHN LASKO

News-Times reporter

The city of Amherst, along with the Amherst Township Board of Trustees have reached an agreement which would allow the Amherst Fire Department to continue dispatching crews to various fire calls and alarms to both residences and businesses located north of the Ohio Turnpike.

Both mayor David Taylor and saftey/service director Dennis Clotz entered in to a five year contract with the township last week, which begins on Jan. 1, 2009 and expires on Dec. 31, 2013.

"In my opinion the contract negotiations between the city and the township went very well," Amherst Township trustee Neil Lynch said, adding either the township or the city of Amherst can cancel the contract in writing within 90 days. "In working with mayor Taylor and Amherst fire Chief Wayne Northeim, everything went very smoothly and professionally."

The areas of the township the department's 31 firefighters will be responsible for covering include:

* The Vermilion Valley Service Plaza, which includes the Ohio Turnpike Service Garage along with the toll booths which align the Amherst turnpike exit;

* North Ridge Road between Quarry Road west to the Brownhelm Township line, which includes Tina Lane and all areas east between Leavitt Road and the Lorain city limits;

* Quarry Road between North Ridge Road and the Ohio Turnpike. This also includes the Westwoods Mobile Home Park;

* Rice Road between Quarry Road to the Brownhelm Township line;

* Middle Ridge Road between the old rail road tracks to the Brownhelm Township line to the west, between the Pinecrest Apartments to the Amherst city in the center part of the township and from Brennan Drive east to the Lorain city limits;

* The west side of the street only on West Ridge Road between Middle Ridge Road and the Ohio Turnpike;

* Pyle South Amherst Road from the Amherst city limits to the Ohio Turnpike. This includes such streets as Coventry Place and Cooper Creek, as well as for the Allied Waste Recycling and Transfer Station;

* Both Broadway and Taylor Streets; and

* If the new "The Quarries at Beaver Creek" housing development in the former sandstone quarries requires the closure of Quarry Road north of State Route 113, then the city agrees to extend its services to the township north of the quarry development and south of the Ohio Turnpike. Lynch told the News-Times this provision was added in to the contract just in case Quarry Road is effected in anyway by the new housing development. Otherwise, the area will be served by the South Amherst Fire Department.

"We don't know where that development is going to go, but we do know the developers have discussed they would like to close off that portion of road," Lynch said. "We didn't want to have a difficulty because there is a group of residents over there which could potentially end up in a black hole if that happens."

For each call the city responds to, the township will have to fork over $500 for each fire engine or tanker truck called to the scene. They will also have to pay each responding firefighter $26 per hour verses what the township has been paying them in the past which was $22 per hour.

Each firefighter will now receive time-and-a-half on top of their hourly wage who respond to calls either on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, Easter, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day and Veteran's Day. Good Friday will be added to the mix of paid holidays beginning in 2010.

"Even though it's blended in to a single hourly rate per firefighter, it still translates in the city receiving a three percent annual increase over that five year term from the pervious contract," he said.

The Amherst Fire Department first responders will now assist with medical calls dispatched through the Lorain County 911 agency in Elyria to Amherst Township, however only at the request of LifeCare paramedics.

The city will charge the township $50 per call and $26 an hour for every first responder on the scene.

"First responder billing will be invoiced separately in each payroll quarter," Taylor said.

In addition the township has agreed to pay the city $10,000 on a quarterly basis for a total of $40,000 a year, for the use of the city's fire department.

"If we have any problems paying these fees, we can always cancel the contract or renegotiated the contract with the city," Lynch said. In order for the contract with the city to the valid, the trustees must keep their current contract with the Lorain County Haz-Mat.

Amherst Township is responsible for upgrading, replacing or reimbursing the city for all of the time and the materials the department needs to locate, install and maintain damaged fire hydrants they find throughout the township.

"Some of these hydrants that were installed, particularly in the Hidden Valley subdivision, were a city of Lorain standard and they have a different hitch on the head," Lynch said. "So we are responsible for purchasing these two different fittings so it makes it easier for different departments to hook their hoses up to."

Once the fittings are ordered and arrive at the Amherst Fire Department, Northeim will be developing a plan to strategically determine which hydrants throughout the township are in dire need of an upgrade.

The township will also be responsible for paying $15 per hydrant, which is a $5 increase from the current contract, so firefighters can flush and test each one. This will be done at least once a year.

The southern portion of the township will still be serviced by the South Amherst Fire Department. However, the township is currently in contract negotiations with the village since their current contract expires at the end of this year.

Lynch hopes contract negotiations with the village of South Amherst go as smoothly as it did with the city of Amherst.

"I've had some preliminary discussions with mayor (Ronald) Schmitz, nothing real heavy duty, but he's already given me verbally what he expects to happen at council and then present us the contract," he said.

While Lynch does not expect any big changes in the contract with the village, he hopes to have it completed and signed by the end of this year.