Cities are finalist for grant to help

After years of having their fire departments, EMS units and paramedic teams collaborating in various capacities, the Westshore Council of Governments, along with the city of North Ridgeville, are looking to streamline operations with the help of a $100,000 grant.

The idea to integrate the departments' staffing, equipment, facilities, communications, training, personnel, risk and fiscal analyses, legal and legislative considerations was selected as one of nine collaborative government project finalists in the EfficientGovNow grant contest.

Bay Village Mayor Debbie Sutherland, COG chairwoman, said it is an honor to be the only project from Cuyahoga County to be selected in the 16-county competition, which will be decided by northeast Ohio residents with an online process through July 31 at EfficientGovNow.org.

Of the nine finalists in the EfficientGovNow contest, three will be selected to win $100,000 grants.

"We think that we have many pieces in place that this could be a model for the rest of Cuyahoga County," Sutherland said. "We need this funding to push us over the top, and we are asking for your support."

The proposed partnership between these seven cities may seem daunting, but according to North Olmsted Mayor Thomas O'Grady, it has been in the works for the last three years.

Specifically, the WestCom centralized dispatch was opened in 2006 to regionalize departmental communication.

COG members Bay Village, Fairview Park, Lakewood, North Olmsted, Rocky River and Westlake also share a Hazmat Technical Rescue Team to handle hazardous materials, a regional fire investigation unit as well as collaborations in trench rescue, confined space rescue, structural collapse, rope rescue and additional operations.

Although the departments are acclimated to large-scale teamwork, the WestShore Regional Fire District Project would employ Emergency Services Consulting to organize the departments.

Emergency Services Consulting was chosen out of 19 fire rescue consultants to determine how far the consolidation will go and how to pay for the project, budgeted at $650,000....