LIBERTY — Several residents spoke out during Monday’s township trustees’ meeting after enduring weeks of confusion about fire department staffing.

Among actions taken during the meeting, three related to the fire department were approved unanimously by the trustees. Following legislation, residents addressed their concerns about miscommunication between the township and its firefighters, as well as zoning.

“Don’t call me a liar,” said Trustee Greg Cizmar, while addressing the Liberty Professional Firefighters Association Local 2075, which claimed that the trustees’ alleged notion that they were unaware that the fire department would be closed in a March 7 Facebook post.

The union has since argued that “The fire chief is notified each time the station is closed. The fire chief was not working the day of the closure. The station was previously closed: Feb. 2 for 12 hours, Dec. 29 for 24 hours, Dec. 23 for 12 hours, Dec. 20 for 4 hours, Feb. 9 for 14 hours, and Dec. 2 for 24 hours, just to go back to December.”

The union also stated that it did not publicize previous closures “in effort to remain friendly with the Liberty Township trustees in hopes to work toward increasing staffing.”

Business owner and resident Drew Barkett, told both parties, “It doesn’t work that way. … You guys are generals; they’re generals. You guys should be communicating before it goes out on Facebook.”

Similar comments were made that addressed the union’s recent Facebook posts as comparable to “fear mongering.”

“We have been waiting for the township to come to the table and try to resolve this issue, but we have not heard from anyone from administration,” union President Ronnie Simone said last month.

Trustees met in executive session at a March meeting regarding the concerns about stations being closed.

Simone explained that during that session, trustees decided to no longer staff a fifth firefighter on overtime.

Simone said while the township has given contracts to new firefighters, “it’s been staggered for over a year. Until we fix that, we can’t compete with departments north and south of us. They’re paying too much at starting pay. Until we can eliminate our step program for our wages, we’re going to continue being a revolving door fire department. There’s just no way to keep up.”

Stanley said he believes that based on the amount of overtime Liberty Fire Department has paid the last few years, the township is spending approximately $28 per hour, 24 hours per day, every day.

“I’m not sure that’s sustainable with our current revenue, but it demonstrates the ability to hire one or two full-time employees,” Stanley said last month. “Please understand, we have hired continuously (you can see a recent Facebook post dated Dec 11, 2023, where we welcomed the addition of five new firefighters).”

The point, Stanley said, is that trustees are “doing absolutely everything in their power to meet, maintain and even increase the staffing levels.”

Stanley said the township has hired every applicant the chief has brought forward, both part time and full time; increased wages for full-time, part-time, and long-term employees; opened the contract to hire experienced firefighters laterally from other departments; and agreed to pay for schooling so that firefighters can become paramedics.

He also said the township has bonus money available for new hires.

“I personally have tried to recruit and mint brand new firefighters,” Stanley said. “But the training classes were filled and ‘could not accommodate more than a certain number of students due to a lack of instructors.’ I’m not sure what else we can do, but I am open to suggestions.”

Simone and Stanley explained that firefighting is an employee-based market, meaning the few available firefighters / medics are being sought after by all departments, and there aren’t enough available to fill the staffing needs of all departments simultaneously.

The board also:

• Approved a motion to increase the part-time firefighter basic EMT rate to $20 per hour and increase the part-time firefighter paramedic rate to $22 per hour.

• Approved a motion to accept the resignation of firefighter Nick Foard, effective Monday.

• Approved a motion to hire Jonathan Moor as a probationary full-time firefighter at a rate of $18 per hour, pending a pre-employment drug testing and background check. His first day of work will be his hire date.