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Rossford Fire & Rescue presents 50-page strategic plan, urges tracking and regional coordination
Summary
Rossford Fire & Rescue presented a community-centered 50-page strategic plan and a tracking spreadsheet with roughly 300 rows and nearly 200 tasks; the department and its facilitator asked Council to adopt quarterly reporting and to pursue regional cooperation to improve ALS response times.
Rossford Fire & Rescue leaders and a contracted facilitator presented a new 50‑page strategic plan to the Rossford City Council, outlining goals, measurable objectives and a detailed tracking spreadsheet they said contains roughly 300 rows and nearly 200 tasks.
Chief of Rossford Fire & Rescue (presented in the meeting transcript as "Chief") introduced facilitator Dave Dower, who described the planning process as community‑centered and said it followed Center for Public Safety Excellence guidance. “We made it a community centered strategic plan,” Dower said, describing workshops that included citizens, business leaders and at least one council member. Dower said more than half of staff completed the plan survey and that the team produced a printed 50‑page document plus a one‑page summary suitable for posters.
The facilitator and the chief emphasized implementation and measurement. Dower said the department developed a tracking document that shows the percentage complete for each objective and contains what he described as “nearly 200 tasks.” He recommended that Council require regular reporting so the plan does not “sit in a drawer.” The chief said the city will assign an individual to track progress and that staff will make the materials available to participants and the public.
Council questions focused on response times and the city’s ISO rating. The chief and Dower said improving response reliability was a top objective; they discussed the “closest rig” model for ALS runs and encouraged conversations with neighboring jurisdictions, including Perrysburg Township and other nearby departments, to expand mutual aid and coverage. On ISO ratings, the presenters described the multi‑year review process and said training documentation and staffing are major determinants of improvement.
Council members thanked the department for the work and asked that implementation be monitored by the special fire committee. Councilwoman Eackle specifically urged committees to identify routine maintenance and operational items for the summer work plan. The chief and facilitator said they would email the full plan and the one‑page summary to Council and post the materials on the city website.
Next steps: Council received the plan for review; staff said they will circulate the documents to workshop participants and department personnel and assign tracking duties. No formal vote on adopting the document as ordinance was recorded during the meeting.
