The idea of consolidating portions of the Newport Fire Department and the Depoe Bay Fire District was discussed this month during a work session of the Newport City Council.
In attendance at that June 3 session were Newport Fire Chief Rob Murphy and Depoe Bay Fire Chief Tom Jackson.
Murphy said Oregon law gives broad authority to local government agencies to make agreements with each other, whether it be to share some administrative services or create an entirely new intergovernmental entity.
“There’s been discussions about consolidation/merger with various fire agencies in the county going back probably 12-14 years, maybe even longer than that,” Murphy told members of the city council. “My predecessor, Chief Phil Paige, had put together a proposal for consolidation/merger with a couple different entities, including Depoe Bay, that ultimately was decided not to pursue.”
Late last year, Murphy, Jackson’s predecessor Bryan Daniels, and City Manager Spencer Nebel again began discussing the idea of consolidating efforts.
“We had some initial discussions,” said Murphy. “Depoe Bay went through a period of transition during which Chief Daniels left and Chief Jackson has been appointed as fire chief.”
He added, “One of the things that really kind of keyed us in to the idea that this might be a good time to look at this is who we have in administration for both agencies. We all get along and work together very well. We felt like if we were to look at combining administrations, that we could work very well together.”
Murphy told council members that merging fire departments has taken place elsewhere around Oregon. In some cases it has worked out well, and in others it hasn’t, he said.
“Our idea to start with would be an agreement between the city of Newport and Depoe Bay Fire District that would merge administrations … the chief officers and executive assistants into one management structure that would oversee the fire operations for both agencies,” said Murphy. That would include operations like fire prevention, code enforcement, fire investigation, public education, and the training of personnel.
Fire department employees and volunteers would remain employees of their parent organization, Murphy said, although Depoe Bay doesn’t have any volunteer firefighters at this time.
The consolidation of the departments would be overseen by members of the Newport City Council and the city manager, and members of the Depoe Bay Fire District Board of Directors. “That oversight board acts as the policy maker and provides oversight for this intergovernmental agency, for the fire authority,” Murphy said. “It does not mean that they have complete control over the fire authority. The city council and the fire district retain the right to either end the agreement or modify the agreement.”
Newport City Councilor Cynthia Jacobi asked Murphy if the purpose of the consolidation would be to save on administrative costs.
“The initial intention would not be to save money for administrative staff because we would not be cutting the number of FTEs for administration,” Murphy replied.
Nebel added, “I think the advantage of this sort of a situation is not necessarily reducing the number of folks, but having clearer roles for these individuals. For example, we could have a training officer between the two departments ... and have one take over the fire marshal for both the district and the city as well, so they could be focusing on those areas.”
Murphy agreed. “That’s the initial benefit. We get (services) that we don’t have today and can’t provide today.”
City council members were in favor of initiating a discussion on the topic of possible consolidation/merger of the two departments. The council is slated to take action at its meeting on June 17 to initiate this discussion, but any formal vote on the matter would not happen until a later date.
Most Popular
Comments / 0