Traverse City commissioners will discuss options for the future of the Traverse City Fire Department at their 7pm study session tonight (Monday), including the possibility of reconstructing both fire stations and becoming the city’s primary ambulance transport provider – moves that could lead to putting a millage request to voters in November.

An ad hoc committee of commissioners – including Mayor Richard Lewis, Mayor Pro Tem Amy Shamroe, and Commissioner Mark Wilson – have been analyzing options for the Traverse City Fire Department (TCFD) for months with staff and will discuss their findings with the full board tonight. The city previously hired consulting firm TriData LLC to study whether it would be feasible for the TCFD to provide first-response ambulance services for the city, rather than contract with an outside provider. TriData LLC found that the city’s outside provider – then North Flight, now Mobile Medical Response (MMR) – failed for several years running to meet contractually required standards for response times.

Lowering response times for EMS calls – especially as Traverse City’s population grows– could be a key consideration in making TCFD the primary responder, consultants found. However, TriData LLC cautioned that the move would require more staff and ambulances for the fire department and would likely require a significant upfront investment. The company encouraged city commissioners to view the proposal through the lens of improving care to residents, rather than seeing EMS services as a money-making or even revenue-neutral endeavor for the city.

The latest findings from the ad hoc committee estimate that taking over primary transport services could cost the city approximately $1,801,700 upfront – a price tag that includes purchasing two new ambulances – then $1,336,000 annually, including equipment and salaries. The city could earn an estimated $425,000 in revenue, though the committee notes that figure is conservative and could be higher, depending on how services are billed. That would put net expenses at $1,376,700 in the first year and $911,000 thereafter. In addition to costs, response time and communication could be another key consideration in deciding whether to take services in-house. In a memo to commissioners, TCFD Chief Jim Tuller indicated ongoing issues remain with MMR meeting the terms of its city contract, including delays or non-responsiveness in providing required reports and falling short of required response time standards.

Commissioners tonight will also discuss the possibility of reconstructing both city fire stations. The city originally planned to update the stations to include gender-neutral restrooms and sleeping facilities, but the cost of those improvements – and the space they would occupy, constraining future growth – prompted commissioners to vote in March to pursue architectural services for a full reconstruction instead. While the city has not yet issued a request-for-proposals (RFP) for those services, TowerPinkster – a consulting firm currently creating a long-term facilities master plan for all city and county buildings – analyzed the stations, providing an estimated reconstruction cost of $13.2 million for both facilities. 

The city has several potential funding avenues it could pursue to implement ambulance services and station reconstruction – avenues which would likely require voter approval. One option – recommended by the ad hoc committee – is to ask voters for a Headlee override. That is a “vote by the electors to return the millage rate to the amount originally authorized by the city charter or statute, or to increase the authorized millage rate by an amount up to the original authorized amount,” according to an explanation from law firm Miller Canfield. “A Headlee override ballot proposal is a request for a tax increase by x mills for the specified purpose. It can be done in perpetuity (for a charter millage) or limited to a period of years.”

Traverse City’s 15 mill charter tax rate authorization has been rolled back to 11.775 mills by operation of the Headlee Amendment, according to Miller Canfield. The ad hoc committee noted that for 1 mill, the net revenue to the city is approximately $1,173,500. If city commissioners wished to put any type of millage request or ballot proposal to voters in November to support TCFD operations and/or station reconstruction, they would need to vote to do so at their August 7 meeting.

Traverse City Firefighters Local 646 union previously expressed “respect and appreciation” in a public post for MMR field EMTs and paramedics, noting they are “routinely placed in a predicament of trying to make ends meet for our jurisdiction and many others in the region.” But the model isn’t working, the union said, creating a scramble for “short-term solutions while ignoring the troubling reality we face daily. A responsible solution involves dedicated EMS units...exclusive EMS staffing should be funded via dedicated millages to make it practical and not a drain on existing budgets.”

The union noted it will ultimately be up to city taxpayers to determine the future of TCFD, adding that a model change “will only be pursued if taxpayers demand it and/or elected officials decide to protect the well-being of the public with decisive action.” In the meantime, the union wrote, TC firefighters “will continue to strive for the best possible outcomes in emergency situations despite the unavoidable circumstances.”