Four members of the Harrison Township Fire Department were approved for promotion and another firefighter was hired, pending checks, at the Oct. 10 Harrison Township Board of Trustees meeting.
By: Dean Vaglia | Mount Clemens-Clinton-Harrison Journal | Published October 23, 2023
HARRISON TOWNSHIP — The Harrison Township Fire Department’s personnel received an overhaul from the township’s Board of Trustees earlier this month, with four members receiving promotions and one new firefighter getting approval to join at the Oct. 10 meeting.
Firefighters Nick Roberts and Brian Bilinski were promoted to sergeant while sergeants Matthew Czarnecki and Erik Evans were promoted to lieutenant. The promotions were made to fill an open lieutenant position and the subsequently opened sergeant positions and were based on seniority.
Following the promotions, trustees approved extending an offer of employment to Maxwell Harcourt for a firefighter/EMT position, pending successful evaluations and checks. Harcourt comes to the department with prior fire experience in Macomb County.
“This hire would place the Fire Department at plus one firefighter position, so 28 total firefighters, but we do have two anticipated retirements,” Township Supervisor Ken Verkest said.
The Harrison Township Fire Department’s current overstaffing puts it in a rare position. According to Verkest, departments around southeastern Michigan are currently understaffed and having the additional staff keeps the township prepared in case of any vacancies.
“There are fire departments that are doing national searches to fill their holes,” Township Clerk Adam Wit said. “Chief (Dave Bostater) has gone over and above to make sure we’re not in the same situation. It’s a good place to be.”
Server room batteries purchase
Trustees approved the purchase of four replacement backup batteries for the township’s servers at a cost of around $3,410. Estimated at about $850 per unit, the batteries replace the previous server backup batteries installed in July 2018.