ROSSFORD, Ohio — Like many agencies, Rossford Fire Department has faced difficulties hiring and retaining staff.
The most recent to leave was chief Josh Drouard, who retired after 40 years as a firefighter.
Now the department has a new interim chief and with that new change, city leaders are hoping for more change to follow.
Rossford's mayor and city council members want to focus on helping staff first responders and hope the new leader of the department can help with that.
"We'll get there, there's no doubt in my mind."
Rossford mayor Neil MacKinnon is hopeful. Through the staffing troubles the city fire department has faced before, he believes there are viable solutions on the horizon.
"The first is us to go a stand-alone operation. If we do that, then we would have to build a second station in the crossroads," MacKinnon said. "The second option is to form a district with one or two of our neighbors, which is Northwood or Lake Township, or even Perrysburg Township."
MacKinnon has urged the city to merge with Perrysburg township in the past, especially after former chief Drouard told WTOL 11 there were shifts with no firefighters on duty.
The new leader of the fire department, interim chief Andrew Vasick, said the department could also move their part-time workers to full-time.
"One of the models is a strictly full-time fire department here with members housed in the firehouse here," Vasick said. "Another model would be a combination department of part-time and full-time which pretty much if you look throughout the region, that is the gold standard right now."
The city is expected to make a decision next month. Chief Vasick said whatever the move is, they will make it work.
Until then, MacKinnon said they've increased wages for firefighters.
"What they will do is they will vet all these plans and then give a recommendation to city council," MacKinnon said. "The city council will then choose one of those plans and then we'll put a timeline in to move forward."
Vascik said that following former chief Drouard's announcement to retire, the mayor reached out asking for Vascik to step in as interim.
Vascik said he knew coming in that they would have a lot to change in the future and the partnership with the mayor's office will be beneficial to the city and the department.
"Perspective is everything. You see one perspective (on the department) on Facebook, and it's not been bad, it's been really good," Vascik said. "(We're) open to comments, open to ideas. It's a good working relationship with a lot of good compromise and a lot of good discussion."
Vascik said that they want to encourage the community to give their feedback moving into the new chapter.
"We can't do anything without the community's support and the community's input," the interim chief said.