Holly village to pitch shared services package to Holly, Groveland, Rose townships

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Chief Rollie Gackstetter.

HOLLY, Michigan – In response to Holly Township’s recent invitation to a shared regional services meeting, Holly officials have been hard at work, putting together a plan for potentially consolidating and collaborating on police, fire and EMS services.

At the request of Village President Pete Clemens, Chief of Police Rollie Gackstetter presented the facts of the plan on Aug. 24 to council members for their approval prior to upcoming meeting with Holly , Groveland and Rose township officials.

“At the president’s direction, there has been some discussion since the township’s request, initially signaling that they are going to be looking for opportunities to discuss sharing services – how we can work together, how we can reduce costs, and how we can improve services,” Gackstetter said.  Gackstetter said the plan would address the current situation of differing levels of public safety services across the 36 square miles of the township.

Gackstetter said providing public safety is a governmental obligation, and the reason why most government entities exist. “It’s one of the primary reasons the Constitution was written – to establish security for all of us,” he said. “It is a basic tenant and obligation of local, state and federal government.” Coupled with governmental obligation, Gackstetter said residents’ expectations for quality protection and safety also is a key factor.

“Of course we all know the economic conditions that we’re all suffering through right now – the cost of public safety, police, fire and EMS services continues to go up,” he said. With fuel, insurance, training and equipment costs and certain governmental mandates, it adds up to a 3 to 4 percent increase with each passing year, Gackstetter said. “We’ve been hearing a lot over the last 4 or 5 years about how the revenue sources that support those expensive services continue to shrink.”  Grant funding, Gackstetter added, isn’t as readily available as it has been in the past, either.

Gackstetter said five different public agencies currently provide police, fire and EMS services to the 10,000 residents living in the 36 square miles of Holly Township, including the Holly police and fire departments, North Oakland County Fire Authority, the Groveland Township Fire Department, and the Michigan State Police. Additionally, Gackstetter said three 911 dispatch centers service the area.

“Depending on where you are and what you’re needing, you may interact with all three of those dispatch centers,” he said.

Gackstetter gave the example of an injury accident along the Holly and Groveland Township corridor of I75. “The current arrangement means if I pick up a cell phone, because of the 911 laws, they point to Holly’s Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP),” he said. “The 911 call from the cell phone comes here to Holly, and in order for us to get ALS (Advanced Life Support) on I75, we tone out Groveland ALS,” he added. “In order to get a fire truck on I75, Oakland County Central Dispatch has to be contacted, and they tone out NOCFA for a fire truck.” Gackstetter said HPD would then have to contact the Michigan State Police Regional Dispatch Center to get a police car on the scene. “For an injury traffic accident on I75, you’ve got all the agencies responding, and all three communication centers trying to deal with the same problem.”

Gackstetter said with so many emergency personnel involved in one incident, agencies run the risk of losing information along the way, and disabling those first responders from disseminating the information in a timely fashion.

The Northwest Oakland County Fire Consolidation Study, a study funded by a grant through Oakland County and completed by Plante and Moran in 2007, Gackstetter says, contains the basic tenants and principles on how to consolidate, how to find efficiencies, and improve services.

After the report’s release, officials from the village of Holly, Holly, Springfield, Rose and Groveland townships began meeting on a monthly basis, discussing ways in which they could share training, combine supply orders, and work together in other ways as described in Phase I of the report.

“As a result of that, the village of Holly began working with Groveland Township to further implement what this study was talking about and what it was recommending,” Gackstetter said. Gackstetter said one of the key elements to making it work was improving the situation with economy of scale, or that is, spreading the unit cost over more users, thereby effectively lowering the cost of the service for everyone.

Prior to collaborating with Groveland Township, Gackstetter said Holly’s fire department had an operating cost of $357,504, no ambulance service and no real plan of what to do about it, and an ISO rating of 7. Gackstetter explained that a community’s ISO rating – that is how well a community responds in terms of fire-fighting capabilities – is a big factor in home insurance costs. “The 1 rating is the highest, and 10 is the worst,” Gackstetter said. “And we were a 7.” Gackstetter said at that time, the village’s cost recovery, or that is costs recouped from insurance agencies, amounted to $7,291.

Since collaborating with Groveland Township, Gackstetter said the operating budget has decreased by approximately $100,000 to $257,270, and that the village now offers both Basic Life Support and Advanced Life Support ambulance service.  Additionally, the village’s ISO rating has sunk to a 5, saving village residents a conservative estimate of $200,000 per year in insurance costs. Revenue recovery for 2010 now stands at $29,305 – a 400 percent increase over the costs recovered in 2007, he said.

Gackstetter turned his attention to the police department, telling council members that his department has a very solid foundation. “I would put us up against anybody in the county or in the state as far as our training regimen, the staff capabilities, the equipment that we have available to us, the technology and systems we have implemented – I’d put us up against anybody,” he said. “But we’re facing some funding challenges.”

Gackstetter said he believes a collaborative plan for the police department, much like the ongoing collaborative efforts between the village of Holly and Groveland Township fire departments, is a good idea.

“You could use the cost of those savings to help solve the police needs with the dollars you currently have,” Gackstetter said. “Perhaps the current Holly Township fire expenditures may pay for both police and fire services in the township, depending on how well we collaborate and how well the systems work, but it will at least take the edge off, and you would have other options as far as how you deal with police issues in the township.”

“We are faced with declining revenues, and we are faced with increased costs,” Clemens said following Gackstetter’s presentation. “Holly Township is faced with a less than adequate police force and it’s an opportunity for us all to work together to save money, to provide a service that Holly Township needs, and to provide revenue for the village of Holly.”

With council’s unanimous approval, Gackstetter will make the presentation to Holly, Groveland and Rose township officials during the regional shared services meeting to be held at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 23 at the North Oakland County Fire Authority Station 1, 5051 Grange Hall Road.