ORION TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Orion Township's police and fire departments have secured their funding after voters approved a set of public safety millages on Nov. 4 — a reversal that township leaders say helped them narrowly avoid a crisis.
The approval comes after voters rejected two public safety millages in August, leaving officials warning that funding for police and fire services was at risk.
"We were literally at zero on January 1 if we weren't successful with this," Orion Township Fire Chief John Pender said.
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Pender, who has three decades of service to the community, said the word of the day is relief.
"I've never seen anything like this, that's again why it was so stressful for us," Pender said.
The August rejection left the departments facing the possibility of no funding. The two failed millages had sought additional money to support the fire department's staffing and equipment needs and to offset a more expensive contract with the Oakland County Sheriff's Office.
"So we were asking for an increase to cover some of that increase… that failed," Orion Township Supervisor Chris Barnett said.
Barnett said that without a successful November vote, fire and police service dollars would have been depleted by May of next year, leaving the community in a state of emergency. The township would have had to rely on state police to handle what amounted to 22,000 local calls for service last year, while the fire department would have been left without funding.
"It's been very stressful, a lot of lost nights of sleep," Pender said.
"I had candid conversations with first responders asking if they should find another job in a different community," Barnett said.
"They continued to do their jobs professionally," Pender said.
"It would have been a crisis," Barnett said.
Barnett, who has served as supervisor for 14 years, said the months since the millage failures have been his biggest challenge yet. The effort required his team to engage directly with residents, reshape the millage proposal to meet voter needs, and ultimately convince the community that public safety is a necessity.
"There were a lot of questions, we have a 96-page document on our website," Barnett said.
"We made ourselves available whenever," Pender said.
To win approval, the township reduced the police millage proposal to a renewal and separated the fire millage into a renewal paired with an additional request. All of the measures passed.
"Miracles seem to happen," Orion Township voter Lynnette Winter said.
The approved funding supports the community's continued contract with the Oakland County Sheriff's Office — which the township continues to negotiate — as well as the fire department's services. It also includes additional money for building expansions and living quarters for more fire team members.
"I know how important money is to the fire department," Winter said.
"Our residents decided that public safety… police, fire, EMS, is something that we value here," Barnett said.
"We're here for four years and we can move forward," Pender said.
"They do great work here in the township," Winter said.
"I think first responders feel a sigh of relief, like they are wanted here," Barnett said.
Barnett said the current funding will not allow the township to bring on new deputies to match what he calls its growing population, but he is grateful the departments will be able to continue supporting the community as they have been.
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