County board member Eckhoff: Consolidate DuPage's fire districts

Grant Eckhoff believes he can save taxpayers millions of dollars by consolidating DuPage County's fire districts and departments.

The county board member just has to convince the majority of his 17 colleagues, the nearly three dozen fire chiefs in the county, municipal leaders, fire districts honchos and the state legislature.

Eckhoff's one-step-at-at-time approach began Tuesday and garnered a less-than-enthusiastic response from the board's judicial and public safety committee. They questioned why the county should take the lead on such an endeavor when they have no jurisdiction over fire service, how the county could consolidate districts that cross county borders and why he wants to spend $300,000 for a consultant when state law currently says consolidation is impossible.

"I think we should take the lead," Eckhoff said. "The county should take the first step. You gotta start somewhere."

Eckhoff said he constantly hears complaints that the state has too many taxing bodies. The state has most units of government in the country. Eckhoff believes if the county can reduce the bureaucracy and redundancies within the county's 30-plus fire districts and municipal fire departments through consolidation, it will show an ability to do the same thing elsewhere. He said a Colorado report regarding consolidation of two fire districts showed possible savings of $2.5 million a year.

"If we're all committed to lowering people's taxes, then we need to look at new ways to do that," he said. "We need to have a little victory to show this can be done."

He cited the half-mile proximity of a Wheaton fire station to a Carol Stream station as one example of possible redundancies.

Several county fire chiefs were in attendance at Tuesday's meeting. Mike Kopp, Elmhurst Fire Chief and president of the DuPage Fire Chief's Association, expressed concerns about what kinds of input the chiefs would have in such a report for the county.

"We're not against it, but we're not totally for it," he said. "I don't know if having a more efficient fire service would be an outcome of this."

Fire officials said there are 27 fire protection districts servicing various parts of the county and seven municipal fire departments.

Naysayers expressed concerns about potential service cuts, but Eckhoff insists the goal of the consolidation effort would be to provide the same level of service or better while reducing costs.

"I'm not talking about changing delivery of service," he told committee members. "I'm not looking to reduce response times to your house or business, but I am trying to cut taxes."

Committee members questioned the wisdom of the county spending $150,000 in consultant's fees for each of the next two years - before the legislature even gives an indication that they'd consider a change to the law allowing consolidation.

"It's so complex that it has to be much more thought out before you spend $300,000," said board member Jim Zay. "You need chiefs, fire district trustees and municipalities to weigh in. But I think it's too late to consolidate. This would have been a much better idea in 1950."

Eckhoff compared the need for a consultant to the board's decision to commission a jail study two years ago.

"But that was our jail," Zay said. "We have nothing to do with fire."

Board members suggested Eckhoff go after mosquito abatement districts, water reclamation district or township government if he wanted to reduce the size of government for taxpayers.

Eckhoff said he is hoping that the DuPage Mayors and Managers Conference will "buy into" the proposal to help offset some of the costs for the consultant. That group meets Thursday to discuss the idea.