NJ Town to Consolidate Fire Districts after Five-Year Battle

This time, it’s for real.

The five-year effort to consolidate Hamilton’s nine independent, tax-levying fire districts into one unified firefighting force will be a reality on Jan. 1, 2021, town and fire union officials announced Wednesday.

The state Department of Community Affairs' Local Finance Board on Wednesday unanimously approved the town’s plan, voting 7-0, to start a municipal fire department funded by local taxes.

Mayor Jeff Martin and the two unions who represent the town’s firefighters rejoiced.

“This is a decision that was a long time coming, and one that will mean positive change when it comes to the safety of our entire community,” Nick Buroczi and Dave Krueger, presidents of FMBA 84 and 284, said jointly.

“Where so many others have failed, or given up, we are glad that Mayor Jeff Martin and his administration have shown the fortitude to continue moving this forward," they said.

Martin said: “In an unprecedented year of economic difficulties, consolidation could save the township, and therefore our residents, roughly $1.5 million a year in reduced fire service costs all while keeping the same number of firehouses and firefighters. This is an extraordinary moment in both Hamilton and New Jersey history.”

The specifics

The plan calls for the Hamilton Township Fire Department to operate six engine companies and two ladder companies, employ the current 133 sworn firefighters working in township districts, and be led by a fire chief, firefighters familiar with the plan say.

The budget will be about $28 million a year.

Rich Kraemer, currently the chief in District 6, will helm the department.

Some fire chiefs will be demoted to deputy chief, and some deputy chiefs will be demoted to battalion chief so that the department can have two of them - one deputy and one battalion - on duty on each shift, firefighters say.

No firehouses will be closed, the plan says.

However, the nine fire districts will cease, and the 45 commissioners who run them will be out of what amounts to a part-time, although elected, job.

In the future, budget permitting, the new department could add speciality units, like a heavy rescue company, firefighters say.

The effort

Hamilton’s current district method of firefighting dates back 100 years. And for decades, the fire districts ‘employed’ volunteer firefighters to battle blazes.

The districts are each operated by an elected board of five commissioners that set the district’s budget, meet monthly in public and hold public elections in February.

In the past 30 to 40 years, though, the districts have hired more and more career firefighters members as volunteerism in the fire service has steadily dropped.

By the fall of 2015, and continuing today, the nine districts all had varying tax rates, equipment, manpower and response times. Depending on where you live in Hamilton, fire service could look quite different from a neighbor across town.

While firefighters and commissioners for years batted around the issue of consolidation, one letter from the board at District 9 - in Groveville - ignited a movement that spread to other districts, who also issued public letters supporting unification.

The two fire unions then took control of the effort and organized a door-to-door effort to have residents sign petitions, which they hand-delivered to the township clerk - which officially put the effort in front of the township council.

From there, and for the next several years, ‘consolidation’ became one-word topic in Hamilton.

Council debated and discussed it, public meetings were held, and it eventually became a political issue, with former Mayor Kelly Yaede asking for the state to study the issue and produce a report.

One sticking point for a while was whether to consolidate the nine districts into one new, super district that would serve all of Hamilton, or eliminate the nine and create a municipal department, similar to a police department that would be part of the township budget.

Firefighters initially liked the super district option, but politicians favored the municipal option, which emerged as the agreed-upon model.

In 2017, due to what the unions said was feet dragging by town politicians, the unions publicly backed three Democratic challengers for council who said they move forward consolidation. All three won seats.

They did the same too in last fall’s mayoral election, endorsing Martin, who defeated Yaede.

The issue appeared on the township council docket many times, and residents and firefighters enjoyed many, “This is it!” moments, thinking a new department was a reality. But the resolutions and ordinances never took effect.

One firefighter vented Wednesday that Martin, "did in a pandemic in six months what the former administration failed to do for years.”

Eddie Donnelly, President of the New Jersey FMBA, who worked on the plan closely at times, said in a statement: “Today’s result is a testament to the positive things that can happen when labor and management work together. Consolidation will make Hamilton safer for our firefighters and the residents they serve, and that makes Hamilton an even better community to call home."

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