MOUNT VERNON – Mount Vernon is one reading of an ordinance away from green-lighting a three-year contract to provide College Township and Kenyon College with fire and emergency medical services.
The measure approving the $500,000 annual agreement ($1.5 million over three years) received its second reading on Monday. The money would primarily cover personnel costs to staff the Gambier fire station 24/7 with three part-time firefighters. That amount is nearly $433,000 of the annual cost. Another $13,763 will be needed for the annual cost of promoting three firefighters to lieutenant to meet the contractual requirement of one lieutenant always being on shift in Gambier.
Additional equipment, gear, fuel and vehicle maintenance each year is projected to cost a little more than $23,000. Increased administration costs and fire-prevention needs, such as fire inspections, would take another $25,000. Uniforms for new hires was estimated to be a $5,000 annual expense.