Politics & Government

City, Park to Study Public Safety Consolidation

The study is to be done in 2012 but will not start until the municipalities hear back on a grant application that would help fund the research.

Officials from the and have agreed to study the idea of consolidating the public safety departments and what such a move would mean operationally. 

City of Grosse Pointe city manager Pete Dame told council Monday about the study will likely take six to eight months to complete and estimated the cost to range in price from $50,000 to $80,000. 

The study, which will be performed by a person agreed upon as a public safety expert, will not begin until officials hear about whether or not they received a grant that could help pay for it, Dame said. The grant would pay for about 25 percent of the total cost of the study, he said.

Find out what's happening in Grosse Pointewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Either way, the cost of the study will be shared by both municipalities, he said, explaining that the grant would be helpful and a better use of money.  

Officials are seeking the grant through the state's Economic Vitality Incentive Program, or EVIP--known formerly as state revenue sharing--in which communities throughout the state are asked to show evidence of working together in order to be eligible for funding.

Find out what's happening in Grosse Pointewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The study will evaluate whether consolidation would be beneficial and feasible for both communities. The study will be used as one of many initiatives on a list that must be submitted to the state by Jan. 1 to be eligible for the EVIP funding. The list entitles communities to receive full funding if officials are truly making an effort to work together with other communities, according to Dame's update to council.

Councilman Chris Boettcher inquired about the level of interest in consolidating public safety by . Dame answered by explaining that Grosse Pointe Park has shown "great interest."

Also in response to Boettcher's question, Councilman Chris Walsh said Grosse Pointe Farms officials have not said they were not interested, but that Grosse Pointe Park has expressed an active interest, saying they are ready to do this study now. The Farms, Walsh said, seems to be taking a more conservative approach, noting they are also contending with how a public safety consolidation might be impacted by their recent dispatch consolidation with Grosse Pointe Shores.

The study is one of many consolidation efforts in-progress or nearly in-progress related to public safety in the Grosse Pointes. Others include: 

  • an to oversee and implement , such as buying equipment as one unit rather than five and joint training among all of the public safety officers rather than separately and automatic aid
  • the recently complete
  • and one of the remaining three dispatch centers

In addition to the City-Park study, Dame also told council Monday that employees are looking to consolidate in other areas as well, including Public Works. City employees are reviewing a possible consolidation of Public Work with Grosse Pointe Park but also the other Pointes. 

While there is evaluation of consolidation at the departmental level by City officials, there is not consideration of total consolidation of the cities, according to a report given to council.

"...given the nature of the financial challenge facing the City's operational budget, serious examination of ways to save costs through sharing of services with other Grosse Pointe's is very high on City staff's ongoing priority list. It should be pointed out that staff does not have direction to approach any other city about merging or dissolving completely. Such an initiative, if it were to be considered, would involve significant expenditure of resources and as such would require explicit authority from the elected governing body."

Dame is the liaison for the and most recently, into how the fire services could be achieved more efficiently for all of the Pointes. 

As Dame updated the City's council Monday, Grosse Pointe Park council members discussed some of the pros and cons of consolidating public safety services, including how they would be receiving less benefit with the shared fire service changes because of their newer equipment. 

The Park council did not make any decisions regarding public safety issues Monday night but are expected to discuss both topics again in January. 

Kim North Shine contributed to this article. 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here