TOWN OF DEWITT – The DeWitt Town Board has officially decided to dissolve East Syracuse’s fire protection district, making way for the expansion of DeWitt’s fire district into the northern part of the town the village volunteers had long covered.
The decision was reached March 25 at the DeWitt Town Hall after an approximately two-hour special meeting, which contained a lengthy public comment period and a room packed to the brim with local firefighters and other residents.
The northern territory of the town accounts for the hotels off Carrier Circle and much of Onondaga County’s manufacturing, as well as sections of the highways, part of Syracuse’s airport, and streets like Springfield Road and Erie Boulevard East.
With DeWitt Fire’s extension into that northern part of the town, the East Syracuse Fire Department will still exist and provide service, but it has been relegated to handling just the village itself, bringing its total coverage zone from a little over 13 square miles down to about two.
DeWitt Town Supervisor Ed Michalenko began the night by giving a 15-minute presentation explaining the background to the town’s decision to go with DeWitt Fire and what spurred the situation to unfold the way it did.
Michalenko mentioned how on Oct. 8, 2024, the village noticed the town of an $800,000 increase to its services contract to bring on supplementary paid firefighters for its volunteer department.
He said that was three weeks after the town had already established its tentative budget for 2025 and that the “significant blow” of the village’s increase would’ve forced the breaking of New York State’s tax cap if imposed, something the town has avoided doing the last 20 years with the exception of once after the COVID-19 outbreak.
The town board then chose to issue a request for proposals (RFP), a process that solicited multiple agencies to send in rundowns with the cost figures it would take for them to cover the town’s northern section.
Based on the responses and subsequent negotiations the DeWitt Fire Department was selected in December to maintain fire protection services in the north district starting Jan. 1 for $2 million, which was $400,000 less than what the village put down, though someone in the crowd at the town hall that night chimed in contesting the idea that DeWitt could do the job for less.
The deal included the transfer of ownership of East Syracuse’s Station 2 at 148 Sanders Creek Parkway to the DeWitt Fire Department and an agreement to establish two or more special tax zones with a greater rate on businesses as a way to maintain lower tax rates for northtown residents than what central DeWitt pays according to Michalenko.
Michalenko claimed the consolidation of the northtown into the DeWitt Fire District will come with a tax rate preserved below $1.50 per thousand for the next five years.
When it came to fire service, the town had previously been signing contracts with the village on an annual basis, the town covering 80% of the costs to the village’s 20%, not counting the town’s $50,000 a year put toward maintenance of Station 2 and an annual $270,000 bond payment for that building, Michalenko said.
Though he says their issues with staffing are part of a statewide and national trend, Michalenko cited the village department’s volunteer shortage in recent years and its perceived transitioning to being a paid department over time as reasons for siding with DeWitt Fire, an already existing paid department he referred to as highly trained and experienced.
He said choosing them to step into the northern district removed the wait for an evolution to a paid department and avoided the duplication of command officers like chiefs and captains.
An attendee then asked Michalenko why the town couldn’t just pay East Syracuse’s volunteer firefighters, to which he responded, “Because they’re not professionals.”
The room erupted at that remark, with loud calls for Michalenko to stop talking and sit back down for saying something so insulting to the village firefighters.
One East Syracuse firefighter shouted from the back, “I’ve been doing this 27 years on my own time, and you want to tell me I’m not a professional?”
At the open podium, several who stepped up to speak pleaded with the board to hold a public referendum on the matter.
Brad Pinsky, the board’s legal counsel who represents fire departments as an attorney, said that due to the particulars of the law, if the town did put it to a public vote it “would have no effect, no meaning and would be overturned immediately.”
Scott McInnis, the president of East Syracuse Fire, said that regardless of whether it would be binding or not, such a vote would be an indicator of the will of the people that speaks for itself.
Others asked the board to listen closely to the dissatisfaction of their residents and take the necessary time to make sure their decision is the best route, insisting that the ramifications and complexities “still need to be hammered out.”
While thanking DeWitt Fire for all they do and making it clear they have nothing against that department’s membership, different attendees said they had never heard a single complaint about East Syracuse’s firefighters before, calling those volunteers their trusted neighbors who have put their lives aside and on the line to take care of the northern district.
McInnis said the East Syracuse Fire Department, which was founded in 1888, had protected the northern portion of the town for 60-plus years and became equipped with the right knowledge base for how to handle the range of calls in that area and the right apparatuses to do so.
“But because of a dispute between two government agencies, that arrangement has been destroyed,” McInnis said. In front of the town board last Tuesday, he told its members, “Your decision to end this arrangement was done behind closed doors and with little or no transparency. Something as important as fire protection should not be rushed to a decision in two months.”
Michalenko said his town board attempted over 20 years to create a cooperative partnership between the town and village for managing fire protection responsibilities in the north district by way of a not-for-profit or other legal entity, along with joint vehicle ownership and a shared board of directors comprising town and village government officials and representatives of the East Syracuse Fire Department, but he said that was all continually rejected and that the village has had a “non-negotiable,” “take it or leave it” stance with its presented contract.
After closing its public hearing, the town board voted to dissolve the East Syracuse fire protection district and expand the DeWitt fire district, with Deputy Supervisor Kerry Mannion making both motions and Councilor Jack Dooling seconding both while Councilor Joe Chiarenza opposed the votes and Councilor H. Bernard Alex abstained.
DeWitt Fire will be covering the northern district from Station 2 and its East Genesee Street station, with Station 1 on North Center Street remaining occupied by East Syracuse’s personnel.
Following the March 25 meeting, the East Syracuse Village Board released a statement contending that the DeWitt Town Board “lacks a true understanding of the fire service and the immense dedication it requires.”
The statement says that the village’s firefighters commit countless hours to rigorous training, often spent away from their families.
“It’s time for the Town of DeWitt Board to recognize and appreciate the sacrifices these volunteers make,” the statement asserts.
ellementor.com
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