A combined Dexter Area and Scio Township fire department could happen as early as 2012 under a proposed timetable approved by a committee of elected officials from Dexter Village and Dexter, Webster and Scio townships.

Elected officials from the village and the townships have agreed that consolidating the two fire departments would improve service and reduce overall costs for fire protection for the area, and several months ago adopted a formal resolution to take the next steps in the process.

Monday night, Dexter Village President Shawn Keough said, “(the committee) met last Wednesday at Dexter Township Hall and started working on articles of incorporation and there’s been a lot of really good participation.”

It’s hoped that a draft agreement will be in place by July.

“This is a working document and was transmitted to the DAFD and Scio Township fire departments and we need to start meeting with the unions, too,” Keough said.

A new fire chief would determine staffing for the combined department.

Councilman Paul Cousins said he hopes that there isn’t a lot of additional expense in renegotiating fire union contracts.

“The formal adoption of the new union agreement would occur once the interlocal agreement is adopted by each community and the new board is established,” the plan states.

When asked how many seats there would be on the new fire board, Keough said, “The largest member gets three seats, and that would be Scio, so they would get three seats, and Dexter, Webster and the village would have two seats.”

He said the committee wanted to set this up in a simple fashion, so if other municipalities want to join the regional department in the future, they could.

A committee of officials have been working for more than 18 months on the plan, said Dexter Township Supervisor Pat Kelly, who is strongly in favor of a regional department.

Included in the draft timeline is an asset and liability valuation of each department that would be completed in June. The consolidated fire budget is estimated at about $2 million. In the proposed scenario, Dexter Township would pay about $300,000 or 15 percent, Scio Township would pay about $1.2 million or about 55 percent. Webster Township’s proposed amount would be about $342,000 or 17 percent and Dexter Village’s share would be about $247,000 or 13 percent.

The proposed cost amounts are based on each municipality’s population, its state equalized value (with a 50-percent adjustment for open space), and the number of fire calls in the towns.

The two departments each have a chief and with the consolidated department, there would be one chief who would be chosen by the administrative board of the regional department.

Experts in the fire service from outside the departments said that a regional fire service would consolidate training expenses and standardize training methods, as well as increase competitiveness in grant opportunities because of a larger service area and more staff. In addition, it would be a more efficient use of fire equipment and staffing.

“It is envisioned that all firefighters will be trained as non-transporting emergency medical technicians,” the plan states.

Both the Scio Township Fire Department and the Dexter Area Fire Department are union departments, and it’s expected that those contracts would be reopened.

Lisa Allmendinger is a regional reporter for AnnArbor.com. She can be reached at lisaallmendinger@annarbor.com. For more Dexter stories, visit our Dexter page.