Crime & Safety

Millburn-Summit Fire Study Bids Are In

The study's cost ranges from $13,500 to nearly $70,000, but there could be state grant money available.

Millburn and Summit officials are deciding which firm should complete a study to analyze how the two fire departments can share more services.

The Shared Services Committee—which consists of the business administrator, fire chief and firefighter union chairman from each community—is considering three bids to complete the study. The costs range from $13,500 to nearly $70,000.

Millburn Administrator Tim Gordon said the two administrators are relying on the input from the chiefs and union chairmen evaluation on how to proceed.

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Millburn Fire Chief Michael Roberts said law requires a bid to be accepted or rejected within 30 days. The bids were opened on Dec. 1, so the deadline would be Dec. 30. But Gordon said they could approach the three firms to ask for an extension if they need more time to secure the funding.

"We're evaluating what we have," Roberts said of the bids.

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Summit also is overseeing the process, so the Summit council would need to vote on the bids. Summit Chief Joseph Houck said the reason Summit took the lead on the project is because City Treasurer Ron Angelo and City Administrator Chris Cotter both have experience with shared service grant applications.

The group is also looking for a state shared services feasibility grant, but it remains unclear if the money is readily available. Roberts said it has yet to be determined if the study would move forward without grant money. Gordon said it matters the cost on if the proposal can move forward without grant funding.

Houck said the committee has not applied for the grant yet because they want to pick a proposal first so they have a targeted amount to ask for.

If a bid is accepted, the study would start within 14 days. The study would take up to six months and involve interviewing fire department personnel and reviewing documents, including budgets.

Millburn and Summit fire officials announced in June they were looking to study combining and sharing more services, including possibly combining departments. Officials, however, listed a number of hurdles that stood in the way of combining departments, including different counties and how Millburn is a civil service community.

"Summit and Millburn fire department have been experiencing and using shared services long before it was fashionable," Houck said. "We've been working together—between automatic aid agreements and joint training—for quite some time. Although we share a lot of services we just want to be sure there isn't anything else we could be sharing."


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