Highland Park May Supply Highwood with Emergency Services

The cities of Highland Park and Highwood are exploring the possibility of sharing fire, emergency, medical and fire inspection services.

Staff recommended the Highland Park City Council enter an Intergovernmental Agreement with Highwood to provide services for the smaller city that lies just north of Highland Park on Sheridan Road.

If the Council agrees and a referendum is approved by Highwood voters, Highwood would compensate Highland Park annually for the services.

The earliest timetable for a referendum would be Spring of 2016.

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“Safety, quality customer service and response time to Highland Park residents would not be impacted by assuming service to Highwood, and Highwood would benefit by being served by the Highland Park Fire Department, a nationally accredited operation,” according to a news release issued by the city of Highland Park on Thursday.

Neukirch added that the current auto-aid agreement between the two municipalities means no additional manpower would be needed to implement the service.

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City Manager Ghida Neukirch said the city “continues to look at opportunities to explore service redesign measures that reduce the economic burden on residents while maintaining effective delivery of services to the community.”

“This initiative demonstrates such an opportunity,” she said. “As public safety is a core priority, we remain committed to achieving this goal in a cost effective and efficient manner.”