Crime & Safety

Millburn-Summit Fire Department Study Moves Forward

The study would look to share or consolidate more between the two departments.

Millburn officials have taken the first step towards a study about consolidating and sharing more services between the Millburn and Summit fire departments.

The Millburn Township Committee Tuesday night authorized sending out a request for proposals for the study, but Summit officials will be taking the lead on the study.

Millburn Town Administrator Tim Gordon said Summit officials are taking the lead because they have more experience in receiving state grants for shared services initiatives than Millburn officials.

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Once officials receive the proposals to do the study, he said, the cost would be submitted to the state Department of Community Affairs for up to 80 percent funding.

"(The request for proposals) does not obligate us to do anything if it is too costly," he said. "It just to determine the cost."

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The matter has yet to appear on a Summit Common Council agenda, but the study may include also consolidating the dispatch center further with Berkeley Heights and New Providence A study conducted by Union County has reccomended that the three municipalities merge dispatch services. The Millburn and Summit departments already share a dispatch center.

Summit Deputy Fire Chief Richard DeGroot has said that as soon as the city council releases the study to the public, this issue can move forward as one possibly consolidation instead of two seperate discussions.

Millburn officials first spoke about the plans for the study in June after they held meetings with the firefighters union. The two fire chiefs approached the two administrators with the proposal for the study.

The study would examine the organizational structure, response procedures, fire prevention services, budgets, policies, training programs and apparatus of the two departments. The purpose would be to determine if there are any opportunities to share or consolidate services, although Fire Chief Michael Roberts said in June it would be difficult to consolidate the two departments.


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