chicagoareafire.com

Keeping track of Chicago area fire departments

Posts Tagged West Dundee Fire Chief Randy Friese

West Dundee Fire Department news

Jan 3

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | Comments off

Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:

West Dundee is searching for a new fire chief after a potential deal to share the leadership position with a neighboring entity fell through. The village board recently approved a $19,250 contract with GovHR USA to help find a replacement for Chief Randy Freise when he retires in the next two to three months. Initiating the recruitment process is a change of plans for West Dundee officials, who had been working toward a joint fire management services agreement with the Rutland-Dundee Fire Protection District.

The intent was to have Rutland-Dundee Chief Richard Thomas take over the leadership of both departments after Freise’s departure. He announced his retirement in August 2018, but agreed to stay on until negotiations were finalized. But before a deal was reached, Rutland-Dundee officials informed West Dundee in late September that they were no longer interested in pursuing the shared chief option — a decision made largely out of concern that Thomas would be spread too thin.

The recruitment process is expected to take 60 to 90 days. It will include an initial review of applications and a first round of interviews before narrowing the pool to three or four finalists. The final candidates would then be interviewed by village staff members and trustees. The job posting lists the position’s annual salary at $102,000 to $124,000, depending on qualifications.

Starting in 2017, Freise also spent two years overseeing both West Dundee and the East Dundee and Countryside Fire Protection District as part of their ongoing consolidation efforts. East Dundee fire board members eventually decided to terminate the agreement for budgetary reasons.

The two departments, as well as Rutland-Dundee and Carpentersville, have taken strides the past several years to share resources, unify training programs and standardize operations.

thanks Ron

Tags: , , , ,

Fire department consolidation proves complex

Dec 9

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | 1 Comment

Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:

Citing nearly impossible legal hurdles at the state level, the Carpentersville Fire Department, East Dundee Fire Protection District and West Dundee Fire Department will not seek a complete consolidation at this time.

However, the fire chiefs do agree it should be a goal for the future. “It doesn’t mean we’re stopping and just not doing anything,” West Dundee Chief Randy Freise said. “We’re just not jumping in all at once. We’re breaking it down into smaller pieces.”

In November of 2014, members of the Carpentersville Village Board, East Dundee and Countryside Fire Protection District Board, and West Dundee Village Board shared the $30,908 expense to initiate the study by Emergency Services Consulting International. In October of this year, results from that in-depth study concluded consolidating fire services would make sense.

However, Freise said during a presentation at Monday’s board meeting, when the fire chiefs were tasked with analyzing the study and discussing the results with their respective boards “we came to the conclusion a complete legal consolidation at this time would be too difficult to do.”

Freise said a state law passed in the last year and a half requires more hurdles in order to make consolidations possible. “Now we have referendums and court appearances and all these different things we have to do in order to do this,” he said. “It kind of takes the decision away from the local boards and makes it much more difficult.”

They plan to keep working toward the ultimate goal of a potential full consolidation. That includes the possibility of forming work groups represented by members of each department and municipality and tasked with developing a regional approach to providing the best outcome, and a regional board that would include a fire chief from each of the respective towns and a trustee from that town to consider the recommendations of the work groups.

The fire chiefs are also meeting with Sen. Karen McConnaughay this month to discuss the roadblocks in state law considering consolidation, Freise said. “One of our goals is to meet with local legislators to make them aware the state is making it more difficult and to see if we can’t change the legislation and make it more streamlined,” he said.

Freise said in the last few weeks he has also heard from the Rutland-Dundee Township Fire Protection District chief who is interested in joining the conversation of a possible future consolidation. “A big piece of our regional puzzle that has been missing from the onset is participation of Rutland-Dundee Township Fire Protection District,” he said. “Through all of this we’ve continued to work closely with them and will most likely continue to do so in the future, no matter what it holds.”

More can be found HERE, and HERE

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Talks progress towards consolidating fire department services

Aug 23

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | Comments off

The Courier-News has an article about the consolidation talks between the Carpentersville and West Dundee Fire Departments:

As talks continue on the possibility of Carpentersville and West Dundee consolidating fire services, local officials are eager to keep the momentum going.

To that end, West Dundee board members authorized village staff Monday to develop a request for proposal to determine the cost of an in-depth study on consolidation.

West Dundee Village President Chris Nelson said an outside entity can help officials “evaluate the prospect of the consolidation because it is a very complex issue.”

The scope of the possible consolidation has also broadened, with both East Dundee Fire District and Rutland-Dundee Township Fire Protection Districts showing an interest. Efforts are underway currently to take steps toward a more functional consolidation, where the fire department districts would remain separate but work together more in responding to incidents and purchasing equipment.

West Dundee Chief Randy Freise told village officials that Carpentersville has agreed to provide battalion chief coverage in West Dundee for all structure fires, vehicle accidents with extrication, and major incidents at Spring Hill Mall.

Freise also plans to meet with East Dundee Fire Chief Steve Schmitendorf and Carpentersville Deputy Chief John Skillman to discuss the possibility of sharing a training officer.

Nelson said having consistent training not only saves money but also makes sure firefighters are working together and operating as a team.

“Not just for the village of West Dundee but for the other departments and taxpayers,” Nelson said. “Our ultimate goal is to enhance the service level in an affordable way. It’s great we’re able to move the ball on this.”

thanks Dan

Previous posts are HERE and HERE.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

West Dundee will study options for consolidation of fire services with neighbors

Jun 10

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News, Fire Service News | 1 Comment

The Daily Herald has an article

West Dundee officials this week took a small, but significant step toward possibly consolidating its fire services with neighboring departments by ordering a study on response times, where most emergency calls occur and related information.

The study will focus on the coverage area that encompasses the West Dundee and Carpentersville fire departments, as well as the East Dundee and the Rutland-Dundee Township fire protection districts.

The document, which the Illinois Fire Chiefs Association will compile, would also give an overview of the area and list the individual departments’ strengths and weaknesses.

Once the information comes back, … neighboring fire chiefs [will meet] to review it and figure out the next steps. Carpentersville, West Dundee and East Dundee support the study and are dividing its cost among themselves. Rutland-Dundee has agreed to submit information for the study, but is not making a financial contribution.

Talks about consolidating services have been ongoing for many years, but got serious in January …

“Certainly everybody’s got tight budgets and it makes sense to look at it at this time, but my ultimate goal would be to provide better service,” Friese said.

thanks Dan

Tags: , , , ,

Fire departments discuss consolidation

Feb 18

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News, Fire Service News | 2 Comments

The Daily Herald has an article about discussions between Carpentersville and West Dundee to consolidate their fire departments.

Carpentersville and West Dundee officials have started preliminary discussions on consolidating services within their fire departments, talks that come at a critical time for West Dundee’s finances. The nature of the consolidation, the services involved and the money it could save have not been determined, but future talks are expected to lay out that groundwork.

“There will be a math problem that shows all the communities why we should do it,” Carpentersville Village Manager J. Mark Rooney told the audit and finance commission last week. “The political will’s the back half of this.”

West Dundee is projected to lose between $300,000 and $400,000 in annual sales tax revenues once its Target store closes in May. Village officials are expected to discuss the financial ramifications next month during budget proceedings, Finance Director David Danielson said.

Carpentersville budgeted more than $5.5 million for its fire department in the fiscal year ending April 30. The department fields 32 full-time firefighters and 29 part-timers. The West Dundee Fire Department, meanwhile, consists of 11 full-time firefighters and 30 part-timers. Officials there budgeted almost $2 million for the fire department, Danielson said.

The consolidation talks started about a month ago with a meeting between West Dundee Fire Chief Randy Friese, West Dundee Village Manager Joseph Cavallaro, Rooney, Village President Ed Ritter and Public Safety Director Al Popp, who oversees both the police and fire departments in Carpentersville.

Three years ago, discussions on consolidation among police departments in West Dundee, Sleepy Hollow and East Dundee fell apart after Sleepy Hollow pulled out over autonomy issues and after concluding the village wouldn’t save as much money as officials hoped.

thanks Dan

Tags: , , , , , , , ,