Editor’s note: This article is by Andrew McKeever, of the Manchester Journal, in which it was first published Aug. 27, 2015.
DORSET — Town officials met with representatives of Dorset’s two fire districts Monday at the town offices to begin a process of exploring how a consolidation into one fire department — or more collaboration between the two — might occur.
By the end of the two-hour long meeting, joined by about 15 townspeople in addition to the members of the East Dorset and Dorset Fire Department prudential boards and three select board members, a list of pros and cons had been produced for the specially constituted committee to mull over at their next meeting.
Economies of scale, which hopefully would lead to saving money on the purchases of new fire trucks or other equipment, funding and taxes, shared billing, shared equipment and joint training led the list on the pro side, which went onto include a total of 16 items that also included a hoped for boost in recruiting new members to join a fire department.
The average age of Dorset residents is more than 51 years, and the other obligations of being a firefighter, such as training and flexibility with employment, made the pool of possible candidates to fill the department no easy task, it was noted at several points during the meeting.
On the other hand, the concerns of present members of both fire departments, leadership questions and the effect on existing department procedures and traditions were noted on the “con” side.
Dorset’s fire services are handled by two different departments — the Dorset Fire Department, first established in 1912, and the East Dorset Fire Department, which came into existence in 1943 to handle fires on the eastern side of Morse Hill and Green Peak which divides the two communities. Both departments are separate entities accountable to their own boards of directors, with separate budgets, equipment, firehouses and different fire district tax rates. East Dorset pays a substantially higher fire tax rate, because the taxable value of Dorset’s grand list yields more revenue.
There were several options that have been identified as possible avenues to restructuring the existing two fire departments, according to Town Manager Rob Gaiotti, who moderated the meeting. They included merging the two fire departments into one, creating a town municipal fire department or an “interlocal” contract between the town and the fire districts for services.
“The key to start with is the two fire districts, talking about how that service is provided and what commonalities they have and what can be worked out here,” he said.
A public safety study initially started more than two years ago and which includes both police and rescue squad components, may have prompted the discussion. The study, which aimed to see if there were ways of merging or combining public safety services between Dorset and Manchester produced a report earlier this year which was critical in places of how fire services within Dorset were organized, stating that the town was “poorly served” by the existence of the two separate districts and cost residents more money than should be necessary.
The complexity of a possible merger or consolidation became evident early, as issues around different water districts, geography and recruitment kept surfacing. The sentiments of the exisiting firefighters also needed to be considered, said Dorset Fire District Prudential Board member Steve Ludlam.
“It’s up to the fire departments to get together and see if we can do this or not,” he said midway through the meeting.
Despite the complexity of seeing a pathway towards more collaboration or consolidation, the joint meeting of town officials and fire department representatives succeeded in working through a list of challenges identified as facing the town of Dorset and the way it organized its fire services.
Those challenges, listed in a document distributed at the start of the meeting, included the organization and funding formula for the district, or districts; recruitment and volunteers — few younger people are able to afford to live and work in Dorset, it noted; existing member base, which required ongoing automatic mutual aid between both departments; complexity and redundancy or state requirements and taxation; and the lack of local first responder medical aid. The Manchester Rescue Squad is the main provider of rescue squad services for the town. Midway through the meeting, Dan Pinsonault, a member of the East Dorset Prudential Committee, urged other committee members to keep their focus on the local taxpayers.
Firefighters and traditions are important, but “the main duty is to do what’s best for the taxpayer,” while keeping the fire department functional.
The point about tax rate rates was underscored shortly after by his wife Sandy Pinsonault, who is also the town clerk and the treasurer for the East Dorset Fire Department.
“As a taxpayer, it irks me when I’m paying twice as much (in fire tax) on the East Dorset side … when our fire department is going over the mountain to help fight fires there,” she said. “My tax dollars are subsidizing your fire department.”
The committee set a date of Sept. 28 for their next meeting, which is anticipated to continue reviewing materials and make a recommendation on the best method to solve the fire tax rate divergence, according to the document handed out at the meeting. A third meeting is also anticipated which will review the operations of each fire department and opportunities for consolidated efforts.
