Macomb County Exec Says Cities, Townships Considering Combining Fire Departments
MOUNT CLEMENS (WWJ) - In central Macomb County, several local governments are taking a closer look at the possibility of combining their fire departments into one regional unit.
County Executive Mark Hackel says officials in Clinton Township, Sterling Heights, Mount Clemens and Harrison Township will look at the feasibility.
"You gotta talk about deployment, you gotta talk about personnel, you've got to talk about, you know, efficiency, as well as costs — especially with labor contracts, retirement," he said.
Hackel said fire departments, unions and local leaders are on board. Cities and townships, in general, he said, are warming up to the idea of sharing resources.
"There are municipalities that we are reaching out to that we know we want to really assist and help them, and we're in those discussions right now," Hackel said. "So, we're starting to see a lot more of that taking place."
"I think people are less guarded," said Hackel. "They're not looking at it as, you know, territorialism as opposed to: You know what? This is just contracting the service with the county. We're still going to maintain, you know, our specific municipalities and the leadership of it, and the direction as to where they wanna go."
No timetable has been given for the study.
