By Joey Oliver
mlive.com
BAY CITY, Mich. 鈥� Moldy furnishings, understaffed fire stations and tales of leaky ceilings dripping sewage into coffee mugs were among the narratives presented to city commissioners by public safety officials trying to detail the state of Bay City Department of Public Safety鈥檚 police and fire facilities.
Previously asked to discuss what would need to be done to reopen the recently closed Fire Station 5, Public Safety Director Caleb Rowell and Fire Chief Kurt Corradi spoke Monday, Nov. 25, about longstanding issues at each of the city鈥檚 four fire stations.
They also spoke of the state of the city鈥檚 law enforcement center, a space shared with the Bay County Sheriff鈥檚 Office that also faces its fair share of problems and staffing concerns.
鈥淥ur infrastructure has been neglected, to say the least, on both the law enforcement and the fire side of it, because we鈥檝e been trying to preserve personnel for a lot of years,鈥� Rowell said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always repairable, but it always comes at a cost. Money is, you know, the object here. You only have so much money to fund personnel and buildings. You got to decide where to put it. That鈥檚 what this plan is to put forward, what the best plan is for this city.鈥�
Bay City transitioned from having separate police and fire departments to a combined public safety department after facing a more than $2 million deficit in 2013, Rowell said Monday. And the city has seen a steady decline in staffing for its emergency response departments.
In the years leading up to the transition to the public safety format, Bay City Police Department staffing declined from 88 officers and staff in 2002 to 56 in 2012. The fire department during that timeframe dropped from 60 firefighters and staff to 44.
Today, Bay City鈥檚 Public Safety Department with police and fire combined has 80 personnel, 23 of whom are full-time firefighters.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 quite a difference,鈥� Rowell said.
Bay City signed a contract with the county in the late 1970s in which it agreed to pay a portion of maintenance and operations for the law enforcement center. However, one thing that was never hashed out was who pays for improvements on the building.
The current setup places the jail over the public safety offices. Rowell recalled times when he鈥檇 walk into his department鈥檚 detective bureau and find water pouring into the office, or, even worse, sewage.
Other stories shared by officials Monday included the time an HVAC unit fell through the ceiling. And there was the time a detective鈥檚 office flooded, and city employees installed a tarp over his computer and desk to funnel water away from him the next time it leaked.
In 1999, the city began looking into potentially building a new police department, but economic issues caused the idea to be tossed aside as personnel retention took priority.
鈥淚t鈥檚 getting older, and there have always been issues with it,鈥� Rowell said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e under the impression that, you know, some things that I would consider maintenance issues, they consider infrastructure improvements or things of that nature.
鈥淎s of now, we鈥檝e worked with them, they鈥檙e working with us, but it鈥檚 difficult to determine who fixes what.鈥�
Each of Bay City鈥檚 four fire stations also face unique problems. Fire Station 1 needs a boiler replacement that would cost the city upward of six figures, Fire Station 2 has long-lasting PFAS contamination, and Fire Station 4 needs new windows.
Issues at Fire Station 5 have been well documented, with mold and other health issues being so prevalent the department closed the station earlier this year.
No imminent moves are expected, but among potential solutions for the department鈥檚 infrastructure issues was a new public safety building, which Rowell suggested would address all infrastructure shortcomings for city law enforcement and east side fire stations.
Rowell estimated a new building and the added personnel needed for it would cost approximately $30 million. Another proposal was a new Fire Station 2, which he admitted would not solve infrastructure issues at other fire stations or at the law enforcement center.
鈥淎nother option would be just to live with the law enforcement center the way we are. You know, we survived in there for 20 plus years. It just leaks on us,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 going to need some improvements eventually. We just have to work it out with the county if that鈥檚 the direction we go.鈥�
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