Dexter City Council approved an amendment to the Dexter Area Fire Department’s (DAFD) service agreement at the Dec. 8 meeting. The agreement partners the city of Dexter, Dexter Township and Webster Township under one contract, and the amendment was recommended by the DAFD Fire Board in November.
“Each municipality maintains a station staffed with two firefighters and the necessary equipment, regardless of the number of calls received,” city council’s Dec. 8 agenda packet reads. “Because each community benefits from this baseline level of service, Board Members suggested that a portion of the overall budget should reflect this equal readiness capacity.”
The previous business model established for the DAFD split funding by the ratio of runs from each municipality’s house in the prior year. The amended version now divides the first 50% of funds equally between the municipalities, while the second half continues to be measured by the run-ratio.
“We are prepared in all three of our communities, and we’re prepared equally,” Mayor Shawn Keough said. “We all have staff. Each community has two staff members, minimum, depending on who’s there any given day, and enough equipment to get there and respond. There was a recent fire that you probably saw in the paper. They chief credited the fact that Webster Township station was staffed, and they were close enough to that fire, that the two firefighters that were there were able to get there and start the process of protecting properties.”
The amendment was passed unanimously by the council. The decision must be approved by the remaining two municipalities before it enters into effect.
8123 Main St Suite 200 Dexter, MI 48130
