ECORSE, Mich. – Still in receivership, Ecorse is struggling to right the financial ship and get away from state oversight. One of the recommendations from the state is to consider consolidating fire operations with a nearby community.
The mayor and city council confirm there have been confidential negotiations ongoing, but absolutely nothing has been decided yet, despite rumors circulating in the community.
"I hate to sound like I'm complaining, but we're worried about losing our jobs," said Mark Wilson, president of the firefighters union.
Wilson, along with other firefighters and plenty of community members, packed a city council meeting wanting to get to the bottom of the rumors. The city has talked to both Lincoln Park and River Rouge about potential consolidation, but right now it's unclear whether the math makes any sense.
Public Safety Chief Michael Moore says he understands everybody's frustrations, but the half-truths and innuendo floating around does not help.
"What's been going on is we've been in negotiations with other communities and we've been talking about a lot of things," Moore said. "There's been a lot of things on the table; several alternative plans, and what happened is they took one tidbit of information someone leaked to the masses and people ran wild."
One thing that's clear: Some elected officials do not believe the communication with the city administrator is adequate and that all parties need to sit down to take a look at the numbers and potential savings.