The Town of Worthington has been collaborating with our neighbors in Chesterfield, Cummington, Goshen, and Plainfield to assess our Emergency Services and how we might be able to increase collaboration to better serve all our towns. Representatives from each of the towns have been meeting for about a year and a half with support from a Pioneer Valley Planning Commission grant.
That was followed this past Fall by a second grant, which has enabled us to hire a consultant to work with the 5 towns to study the potential for shared services and regionalization between our 5 Fire Departments.
The consultant has been tasked with the following:
- Meeting and discussing project goals and objectives with fire chiefs and local officials in the participating communities.
- Reviewing and evaluating existing equipment, personnel, and facilities already utilized by the communities.
- Evaluating existing regional cooperation of services provided.
- Interviewing existing emergency services staff in each community.
- Performing regional outreach and provide informational forums to discuss with residents, local officials, and local personnel their concerns and the potential opportunities associated with the regionalization of emergency services.
The last bullet is where we hope you’ll be able to assist the town. There are many of you in Worthington who have been members of the Worthington Fire Department in the past and others who have experience with emergency services. We would like you to please let us know if you would like to participate in the study through an informal conversation or virtual meeting with our consultant.
The study is on a relatively short timeline, with interviews taking place with fire chiefs and departments, selectboards, town administrators, and other interested parties through January and February. The consultant is tasked with completing a report in March.
If you’d like to participate in any way, have comments or questions, please contact:
Charley Rose
Worthington Selectboard
238-5811
crose@worthington-ma.us
or
Peggy O’Neal
Executive Assistant to the Selectboard
238-5577 ext. 100
selectboard@worthington-ma.us.
The goal for all our communities is to develop a comprehensive strategic plan and final report with recommendations for possible regionalization of emergency services.
Our consultant is Municipal Resources, Inc. (MRI). MRI was founded in 1989 by six former New England municipal and state government managers, with both public and private professional experience. Their corporate office is in New Hampshire with field offices in Maine and Massachusetts.
The project manager is David Houghton. David is a fire and emergency management professional who recently retired from the Wayland Massachusetts Fire Department after a distinctive 38-year career, rising through the ranks to fire chief. He continues to work for the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services as both an instructor and in the Special Operations Division doing special projects. David has a B.S. degree in fire science, an A.S. degree in fire science and technology, and has completed a Local Government and Management program with Suffolk University and the Massachusetts Municipal Association. David has a diverse background in firefighting, EMS (ALS and BLS), dispatch, fire Prevention, emergency management, and operations. He is a nationally certified firefighter, fire instructor, fire inspector, and fire officer. He is a certified Emergency Medical Technician both at the national level and in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. David most recently continued his fire service career by being appointed as a call firefighter with the Town of Moultonborough Fire Rescue and is a certified New Hampshire Emergency Medical Technician. He is a member of the Fire Chiefs Association of Massachusetts and the International Association of Fire Chiefs.