By Travis Smola
The South Kalamazoo County Fire Authority is moving forward with a grant request to hire a consultant to seek greater efficiencies.
The Vicksburg Foundation approved $15,000 of the total $20,000 consulting cost. The rest will be covered by the Fire Authority. The study will be conducted by the Center for Public Safety Management, a Washington D.C. firm.
“The Center will examine the department’s organizational structure and culture,” Vicksburg’s Village President Bill Adams said. It will look at everything from staffing to finances.
Fire Authority Chairman Randy Smith said the goal is to bring the best services possible to the community. “It’s never been really looked at,” he said. He said the authority hopes to find ways to improve their services when they get the results back. “Are we running this business as best we can?”
He says he expects the grant to be approved and the consultation to begin sometime in August. It will take approximately four to five months for the Center to complete its work and get the results back to the department.
In other business, Chief Tracy McMillan noted that the month of July had been an extremely busy one. The department has had at least 40 runs so far, six on one day alone. Testing of the weather siren went well. The board also approved the payment of monthly bills in the amount of $21,503.95.