Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:
The Lisle-Woodridge Fire District board of trustees on Tuesday gave final approval for an automatic response agreement with the neighboring Darien-Woodridge Fire Protection District. The pact takes effect Monday and will go through a trial period that ends Dec. 31, 2018.
“We believe it’s a positive move for both districts, and we think it’s a positive move for anyone needing services in either district. We will be functioning as one big unit instead of two separate units on the street. We’re still separate organizations, but operationally, we’ll be functioning as a group.”Lisle-Woodridge Fire Chief Keith Krestan said.
Starting Monday, the districts will share equipment and personnel and use seven fire stations. One existing station — Darien-Woodridge Station 88 at the southeast corner of Belmont Road and 59th Street — will be closed.
The intergovernmental agreement is the culmination of discussions that began in January 2016 when the Illinois Fire Chiefs Association completed a consolidation study of the districts. The study was commissioned by the Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois.
Tim Capua, president of the union that represents Lisle-Woodridge’s firefighters, said there have been two failed attempts to consolidate the districts since the mid-1990s. Still, firefighters wanted to have the study done.
Despite the findings, officials decided that seeking consolidation at this time would be a daunting task. So they chose to pursue a plan of functional cooperation.
Lisle-Woodridge and Darien-Woodridge also are expected to save money on overtime costs. In May alone, Lisle-Woodridge is projected to see a 40 percent reduction in overtime.
Officials said the arrangement could lead to other cost-saving moves related to joint purchasing, training, IT services and vehicle maintenance.
Lisle-Woodridge and Darien-Woodridge officials will decide by December 2018 whether to continue the arrangement. In the meantime, other departments will be watching to see how it works.
thanks Dan and Ron
