By Charlene Bisson
Sun City Fire District officials hope to save some money by sharing resources with the Daisy Mountain Fire District.
Sun City Fire and Medical District board members inspect a new truck for the fire department. Under an IGS with Daisy Mountain Fire District, such purchases can be done in bulk, when appropriate, and save both departments money.
The Sun City district board approved two intergovernmental agreements during its Jan. 17 regular meeting that would allow shared purchases and personnel between the districts. Sun City officials have been researching the shared resources options for several months.
“We have been looking at cooperative efforts for some time,” said Ron Deadman, Sun City assistant fire chief. “We are doing all we can to keep costs down.”
The purchasing agreement allows representatives of each district to propose shared purchasing. On items where manufacturers give discounts for volume buys, that would allow both districts to get those items at a lower cost, according to Mr. Deadman.
“This extends across the board, from office supplies to trucks, if there was someone who offered discounts for volume purchases for trucks,” he said.
Each district will retain the ability to purchase individually on items that would not benefit from volume purchases, Mr. Deadman explained.
“An example is our breathing apparatus. We currently get ours from a different manufacturer than they do, so we wouldn’t be able to group purchase on those,” he said.
The agreement also includes soliciting for bids on items.
The second IGA adds Daisy Mountain to the shared personnel program. Sun City already has a shared personnel agreement with North County Fire and Medical District. That agreement allows each district to send someone to fill a gap in the other district. However, the agreement with North County is limited to first responders, Mr. Deadman said.
“Our agreement with Daisy Mountain is for our entire staffs,” he explained.
The savings to each fire department resulting from these IGAs will be dependent on how often they are utilized, according to Mr. Deadman.
