Naples Daily News (Florida)
COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. — Legislation will be required to create a consolidated Collier County fire/rescue/emergency medical services department, so the process could take another two years.
County commissioners on Tuesday decided that steps leading up to drafting the necessary special act are appropriate, as is hiring a consultant to grease the process.
For the past few years, the county’s nine fire districts plus ambulance services, known as Emergency Medical Services, have been discussing the possibility of combining to conserve resources.
Commissioners stressed Tuesday that they want to be a part of the process.
Golden Gate Fire Chief Jim Metzger and Big Corkscrew Fire Chief Rita Greenberg noted, once again, that immediate savings will not be apparent, but in the long run, consolidation should provide taxpayers with better service and some relief.
The program would adopt a “priority medical dispatch standard ... which would reduce the number of units being dispatched,” Metzger said.
Residents have often wondered why when an emergency call goes out, a fire truck, ambulance and police cars all converge on the scene, a practice that has been questioned as wasteful.
“What does that mean?” Metzger asked. “We may send simply a fire response unit to handle a less-serious medical emergency.”
Collier commissioners approved of the numerous studies put together by fire steering committees over the past few years after they asked fire districts to consolidate to take ambulance service off the county’s hands.
Collier County operates EMS and fire departments in Ochopee and Isles of Capri. Marco Island and Naples also operate their own fire departments. The Big Corkscrew Island, East Naples, Golden Gate, Immokalee and North Naples fire districts are independently run and are funded by property taxes.
A consolidated agency would be full-service, including special operations, homeland security, marine rescue, hazardous materials and dive rescue.
The agency would be divided into three divisions: administration, finance and administrative services. The last would include customer relations, public information and planning for the future.
Although he called the presentation “excellent,” Commissioner Fred Coyle seemed to have some sense that the consolidated department could try to usurp other agencies, such as the Collier County Health Department.
He said he was concerned about how they would be overlapping.
Those mutual working agreements wouldn’t change from what they are now, except that those other agencies will be dealing with one countywide fire rescue/EMS district instead of 10 independent and dependent districts.
Commissioner Jim Coletta agreed the agency would be “free of oversight” from the Board of County Commissioners but worried they would still play a role in the consolidated district.
Greenberg assured him the intent of the final product is a legislatively created special district in which everyone would have a role during the transitional period. After that, assuming it gets voter approval, the consolidated district would have its own elected officials.
Commissioner Tom Henning wanted to know if the fire chiefs and staffers who worked on the reports were prepared to introduce legislation for the upcoming state session.
Greenberg said there is a “shell bill,” but it has not formally been adopted by the chief’s association, so there will not be any legislation introduced for this effort in 2009.
Commissioner Frank Halas asked for a staffing estimate. Metzger said there are a variety of ways to put together such an organization, which would provide the same level of service “and not displace anyone,” but total staffing numbers were not immediately available.
The fire districts have come up with a combined budget of $90 million, but that is based on 2007 figures.
Greenberg said the fire chiefs’ group is now opening up a dialogue on how to put out a request for proposals from consultants, who will help guide them through the legalities of disbanding 10 agencies to combine them into one.
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