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Oregon City Council Endorses Merging Fire Departments
EUGENE, Ore. - The Eugene City Council has endorsed the administrative merger of the Eugene and Springfield fire departments.
Under the plan, Eugene Fire Chief Randy Groves will become chief of both departments when Springfield Chief Dennis Murphy chief retires June 30. Other vacant top jobs will be consolidated and filled by Springfield or Eugene fire department administrators.
A study commissioned by the cities estimates savings of $630,000 in the first year and $850,000 the year after.
"It's not just saving money," Groves told Mayor Kitty Piercy and councilors Wednesday. "It's being more efficient."
The Springfield City Council accepted the merger proposal last fall.
The move is a preliminary step that might eventually lead to a full merger of the 218-employee Eugene department and the 108-employee Springfield department. For now, little change is expected in how firefighters and paramedics respond to emergencies. The departments already cross city boundaries to extinguish fires and provide medical help.
Given the pressures on the city budget, Piercy and most councilors said they like the partial merger.
Some, however, expressed skepticism. Councilor Alan Zelenka said the projected savings isn't much compared with the $31 million budget of the Eugene Fire Department and the $16 million budget of the Springfield Fire Department.
It "sounds like a lot of money," he said. "But in the large context, it's not that great."
For Murphy, 62, the next five months will be the last of his 31-year firefighting career, including the past 17 years as Springfield's chief. Murphy said he has no qualms about turning his department over to the Groves, 50.
"He is my friend and colleague, and I trust him implicitly," Murphy said. "If I didn't think it was good for the people of Springfield, I wouldn't recommend it."
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Information from: The Register-Guard, http://www.registerguard.com
Related
Administrators of the Eugene and Springfield departments appear rea...
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Under the plan, Eugene Fire Chief Randy Groves will become chief of both departments when Springfield Chief Dennis Murphy chief retires June 30. Other vacant top jobs will be consolidated and filled by Springfield or Eugene fire department administrators.
A study commissioned by the cities estimates savings of $630,000 in the first year and $850,000 the year after.
"It's not just saving money," Groves told Mayor Kitty Piercy and councilors Wednesday. "It's being more efficient."
The Springfield City Council accepted the merger proposal last fall.
The move is a preliminary step that might eventually lead to a full merger of the 218-employee Eugene department and the 108-employee Springfield department. For now, little change is expected in how firefighters and paramedics respond to emergencies. The departments already cross city boundaries to extinguish fires and provide medical help.
Given the pressures on the city budget, Piercy and most councilors said they like the partial merger.
Some, however, expressed skepticism. Councilor Alan Zelenka said the projected savings isn't much compared with the $31 million budget of the Eugene Fire Department and the $16 million budget of the Springfield Fire Department.
It "sounds like a lot of money," he said. "But in the large context, it's not that great."
For Murphy, 62, the next five months will be the last of his 31-year firefighting career, including the past 17 years as Springfield's chief. Murphy said he has no qualms about turning his department over to the Groves, 50.
"He is my friend and colleague, and I trust him implicitly," Murphy said. "If I didn't think it was good for the people of Springfield, I wouldn't recommend it."
___
Information from: The Register-Guard, http://www.registerguard.com
Related
Administrators of the Eugene and Springfield departments appear rea...
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Fireyladd - Retired Chief Sharp on
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A good move by all those affected by this.
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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on
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As fiscal issues become more and more prevalent, many department will have to consider this option. I suspect that many, like Eugene and Springfield will ask themselves why they didn't do it a long time ago. Combining departments enables all of us to keep our jobs and enhance the quality of service. CBz
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Eugene and Springfield are almost one and the same anyhow. Springfield would do well to annex into the city of Eugene and cmbine its city for the betterment of all.
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Permalink Reply by lutan1 on
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Me thinks MANY departments could learn from this. As an outsider looking into the USA system, it seems to be incredibly loaded with dupicated resources, finance shortfalls, etc. This would (I beleive) also address mutual aid issues amongst many departments....
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Permalink Reply by Aussie Fire on
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While there does seem to be a lot of duplication in the U.S., I'm not sure that the Australian model of huge statewide fire departments is the answer either - our departments are too damn big and so it is very hard (read: damn near impossible) to make change and be progressive. I don't think that our departments are as good as they think they are, and if you are a huge department with nearly 1500 fire stations like CFA is then you have nothing to measure yourself against - certainly you have no "competition" to try to be better than.
Some things that Australian fire departments do just make me shake my head in disbelief...
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