ELYRIA  – Mayor Bill Grace wants to permanently close the Broad Street fire station and replace firefighter dispatchers with civilians to save the cash-strapped city some money.

Grace, who floated the proposals during a taping of "The Mayor’s Roundtable" this week, said the moves would save $400,000 a year.

Grace said serving the city from three fire stations instead of four would be cost effective and lessen the wear and tear on equipment such as the new $1.1 million ladder track. That truck could be housed at the Cedar Street fire station downtown and used when needed instead of being relied on as a first-response vehicle, he said.

Grace said the changes already made at the Fire Department – dropping minimum staffing from 17 to 14 firefighters a shift, which results in the periodic closing of the Broad Street station – has saved $370,000 since being implemented in mid-2007.

The proposals are expected to be brought up tonight at the special City Council meeting, where the Council is slated to give the city’s $118 million appropriations budget its third and final reading. It’s also expected to be discussed during Council’s Safety Committee meeting at 6 p.m. April 2.

Councilman Garry Gibbs, R-3rd Ward, said he won’t be giving the mayor the OK to go through with his plans.

"I think the mayor’s playing a deadly game,” said Gibbs, who represents the ward served by the Broad Street station. "I’m not in favor of him closing that fire station … and if it’s closed, I won’t support the tax renewal in the fall."

Voters shot down an .5 percentage point income tax renewal set to expire in 2009, and the city is expected to put it before voters again in November. The income tax contributes $6 million annually to the city’s bottom line.

Grace said Gibbs is being alarmist.

"I live in that area, and what’s proposed is a better way to protect the citizens and improve safety of the firefighters,” he said.

As for his plan for civilian dispatchers, he said that would free up a firefighter to respond to calls. That would allow the minimum staffing to rise to 15, which could allow the city to retain its current insurance safety rating, Grace said.

Grace said he’d like to see police and fire calls dispatched from the police station. He’d add one dispatcher to help with the workload – a move that would cost less than $50,000 a year, including benefits.

By comparison, a new firefighter earns $41,611, but benefits bring the annual cost to the city to about $76,000, he said. The average benefit package for firefighters is $80,000 a year, he said.

Grace said he wants to hire six new firefighters to help the city maintain existing staffing levels. That’s far fewer than the 16 that Fire Chief John Zielinski said he needs to adequately staff the department.

Zielinski said Wednesday that he’s grateful for any hires, but he’s deeply concerned about operating with only three fire stations.

"I don’t agree with it," Zielinski said after a long meeting with Grace on Wednesday. "He’s forcing me to have three stations. What I’ve been saying in annual reports for the past five years is we need 22 firefighters in five stations."

Contact Cindy Leise at 329-7245 or cleise@chroniclet.com.

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