The City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County announced Saturday that they are looking into consolidating their fire and rescue services.
"The City and the County are trying to put together a proposal in the next couple weeks," said John Shifflett, president of North Garden Volunteer Fire Company. "Then they want a consultant to look at it."
According to an Albemarle County press release, an overall response system is required to deal with the growth and urbanization of the surrounding community.
"This is just a request for a proposal -- the first step for asking for research," City Director of Communications Maurice Jones said.
If the request is granted, the City and County will begin accepting bids from consultants to modify the existing arrangement. The hired consultant will take an assessment of the current City and County fire and rescue services and make suggestions for what system would work best, Jones said.
"It's difficult to say [what changes will be made] because we're not sure what the consultant's going to come back with," he said. "Ultimately, the consolidation could help cut costs and improve services."
University Police Sgt. Melissa Fielding said she does not foresee a change in the University police department's relationship with City fire and rescue services as a result of consolidation.
"We are not going to change our response, and we don't foresee that fire response is going to change with any kind of consolidation," Fielding said. "We've done things as a region in this area for so long and really had a lot of benefit out of joining services."
According to the press release, volunteers and other personnel for Charlottesville and Albemarle fire and rescue services are not at risk for downsizing or salary reductions. Jones said he is sure all changes would be made for the better for University fire and rescue service as well.
"I think anyone associated with the University should rest assured that they will continue to have quality fire services," Jones said.