While Ludlow city officials honored their outgoing fire chief at council’s Jan. 25 meeting, the announcement led to a discussion about the possibility of merging the city’s police and fire departments with those in neighboring cities.
“I want to make sure we have services that are quick and timely in town,” said Mayor Chris Wright. Wright said that while merging police departments could make sense, he does not like the idea of merging fire departments.
“Those minutes are lives when you’re talking about fire and EMS, so I’m not in favor whatsoever of merging fire departments,” Wright said.
Michael Steward, who served as part time fire chief in Ludlow and full-time chief in Walton simultaneously, retired officially on Jan. 31. Ludlow is considering hiring a full time fire chief, Wright said at the meeting, but in the meantime, Matt Chastain will serve as interim chief.
But Councilmember Abigail Miller said that since the fire department usually breaks even on the budget, merging Ludlow’s police department with a neighboring city should be the priority.
The fire department generated about $200,000 in expenses last year, Miller said, compared to about $1.4 million in expenses for the police department.
“I’m open to discussing merging fire departments as well, but to me police has to come first,” she said. “Fire, that would be a distant second to that.”
Wright assured council that no one was talking about getting rid of the police department altogether, but said he was open to the idea of discussing a merger with another city.
“The city administrator has been putting it on his reports for so long,” Miller said. “I want to actually figure out the financial ramifications of it.”
City Councilmember Lori Davenport agreed that merging the city’s police station with a neighboring station would be a good idea. She suggested Park Hills because they already have a response in Ludlow.
“They’ve already kind of merged,” Davenport said.
Wright said he would never be in favor of completely doing away with a police precinct in Ludlow.
Miller agreed.
“I’d love to save our taxpayers some money but not at the expense of our safety here, so I think we just really need to start discussing it more in depth,” Miller said.