The Sun and News, Saturday, May 18, 2024/ Page 3for the new position of
Department of Public
Works foreman, and pro-
moted Jess Kantner to fill
the position. The foreman
position will replace the
earlier position of public
service director.
Kantner joined the vil-
lage in December 2022 as a
DPW technician. The coun-
cil approved raising her pay
from $19.95 per hour to $
per hour, and approved ret-
roactive pay based on her
new wage in the amount of
$1,222 dating back to early
April.
“She has really stepped
up and helped us all out,
and is always available to
answer questions and work
with us,” Segard said of
Kantner.
In addition, the council
approved the appointment
of a five-member committee
to go over resumes and
interview candidates for the
administrative assistant
position that Segard is retir-ing from. Lindsey, Schuler
and President Pro Tempore
Cheryl Miller will serve on
the committee, along with
Segard and Village Treasurer
Jennifer Eardley. The com-
mittee will forward a recom-mendation on hiring the new
assistant to the Village
Council. The village has
received 12 applications for
the job, Lindsey said.side of Cutlerville.
That means that Byron
will be building a new fire
station of its own in
Cutlerville at some point.
Gaines Supervisor Rob
DeWard noted that Byron
trustees have acquired prop-
erty alongside US-131, just
north of the McDonald’s on
68th Street, as the future site
for that station. And they also
have budgeted money for the
new building, which would
be built on a former Michigan
Department of Transportation
park-and-ride lot.
“They bought it to build a
fire station,” Township
Manager Rod Weersing said.
The Byron Township
Board’s most recent meeting
minutes listed $3 million as
the amount budgeted for that
expenditure.
After getting over the ini-
tial shock of learning about
Byron’s vote to dissolve the
partnership in Cutlerville,
Gaines officials assembled a
Fire Advisory Committee
last fall consisting of various
township stakeholders, such
as Gaines planning staff,
police and firefighters, to
make recommendations to
the Gaines Township Board.
The Cutlerville Fire
Contract Termination
Agreement encompasses
those recommendations,
which the Gaines Board
voted 7-0 Monday night to
approve.
“This is the agreement that
will be given to Byron for
them to accept or deny. This
is just codification of the
terms (of the proposed agree-
ment),” Weersing told trust-
ees at their regular monthly
meeting.
He said the proposed
agreement would be given to
Byron Township Supervisor
Donald (Amos) Tillema on
May 14 to review and take
back to the Byron board for
consideration.
The Gaines Township
Board also voted 7-0 to
accept a recommendation
from its advisory committee
to approve the proposed
Cutlerville Fire Service
agreement. Because Gaines
Township will retain owner-
ship of the fire station on
68th Street, it must provide
firefighting services to Byron
Township until Byron can
complete construction of its
new fire station in Cutlerville
and begin operations.
“Under the intergovern-
mental agreement, whoever
stays in the station (on 68th
Street) is required to offer
fire services to the leaving
township until they can get
up and ready, and running on
their own. So, we are required
to offer at least a one-year
contract for fire services to
Byron, because we’re stay-
ing in the Cutlerville sta-
tion,” Weersing said.
The Gaines Township
Board voted in March to
change the name of the
Cutlerville Fire Department
to the Gaines Charter
Township Fire Department,
which will take effect after
the partnership with Byron is
fully dissolved. On Monday
night, the Gaines Board
voted 7-0 to approve a new
Gaines Charter Township
Fire Department logo.
The Gaines advisory com-
mittee recommended that
Gaines use a pay-per-call
billing method for fire ser-
vices it will be providing
Byron until that township
has its own fire department
operating in Cutlerville. That
is part of the proposed agree-
ment.
“So, we’re going to charge
them for each call that is run
on the Byron side of the
Cutlerville service area. It
boils down to $800 per (ser-
vice) call. If a call lasts lon-
ger than an hour, then there’s
an ancillary charge,”
Weersing said.
The Byron Township
Board does not have to
accept the Cutlerville Fire
Service agreement.
“If they come back with
any negotiation, I would
bring that to you,” Weersing
told the Gaines Township
Board. “And then, it’s up to
you to decide. All we have to
do is offer. They don’t have
to accept. We can hold pat. If
you see wisdom in theirnegotiation, we can make
changes.”
“It’s a very fair offer,”
DeWard said, noting that
Byron Township would have
only a couple of options if its
trustees decline the contract
agreements that Gaines is
proposing. At least, until
Byron gets its own fire sta-
tion built in Cutlerville and
running. Byron Township
could either try to service its
side of the Cutlerville Fire
territory using firefighters
stationed in Byron Center, or
it could rent a building some-
where as a temporary fire
station.
“We (Gaines) would still
respond to mutual-aid calls
like we do now,” DeWard
said.
Trustee Bob Terpstra
asked what Gaines Township
would do if Byron Township
turns down the proposed
contract agreements.
“We’d start looking at our
budget and preparing for just
covering our side of the line,
as of July 22,” Weersing
responded.
“And they’ll figure out a
way to cover their side of the
line without a station there?”
Terpstra asked.
“Yes. That’s on them,”
Weersing said.
Gaines Treasurer Laurie
Lemke said the Byron board
may accept the proposed
agreements.“And within a few months,
(Byron) would project out
when they’re going to have
their building built. And
then, give us a six-month
notice,” she said.
Until Byron Township has
a fire department up and run-
ning in Cutlerville, Gaines
would provide mutual aid to
support it in fighting larger
fires in the Byron service
area.
“It’s really about residents.
Whether it’s ours or theirs,
people need to be protected,”
Terpstra said. “That is what I
would want to present to
(Byron officials).”
Weersing said he believes
Byron Township has enough
in its operating budget to
cover expenses that the split
might incur.
“This is consistent with
the intergovernmental agree-
ment that we’ve been work-
ing with all along,” DeWard
said. “Again, I think it’s very
fair. They’re not going to
build a building within a
year. I don’t see that happen-
ing.”
Weersing noted that Byron
has the firefighting apparatus
it needs to fully service its
own township, including its
side of Cutlerville.
“That’s why they have no
interest in our apparatus,
other than a rescue truck,” he
said.
Gaines Township is retain-ing all of the firefighting
equipment in the Cutlerville
Fire Station on 68th Street,
except for a 2014 Ford F-
Danko Mini Pumper truck. It
was listed on the township
website as having a value of
$150,000 with a current
mileage of 15,126.
“In the numbers that I
received from Byron, they
wrote they would just take
that off our hands,” Weersing
said. “We’re paying for half
of all the other vehicles; they
are going to be asked to pay
for half of that vehicle.”
The cost would come out
of the total payment Gaines
will pay Byron for equip-
ment in the Cutlerville Fire
station. Weersing refers to
the truck as a “backup to a
backup.”
“It’s a smaller unit that’s
mainly used for medicalcalls,” he said.
The proposed contract
agreements must still be
signed by Byron Township
before the terms of the sepa-
ration can be finalized.
Meanwhile, the Byron
Township side of the
Cutlerville service area will
continue to be covered until
Byron can build a new fire
station and respond to calls
there with its own firefight-
ers.
“So, residents in that area
should see no change in ser-
vice,” Weersing said.
Tillema has said he
believes fire services will
be enhanced in Cutlerville
in the future with the
eventual presence of two
fire departments there,
instead of one. Gaines will
operate one, and Byron the
other.FIRE DEPARTMENT, continued from page 1
Caledonia American Legion
Post #Monday, May 27, 2024
Schedule for Cemeteries and Addresses- Alaska *9:00 AM - 68th St. and
Thornapple River Drive - Blain *9:45 AM - 1270 68th St.
- Dutton *10:30 AM - 7000 Hanna Lake
Ave. - Holy Corners *11:15 AM - 84th and
Kraft - Caledonia *12:00 Noon
503 Elm St.
SERVICESSERVICES
SEGARD, continued from page 1
The Gaines Township Board discussing the pending split with Byron Township in mutually operating the
Cutlerville Fire Department.