Last week, Westbrook Mayor Colleen Hilton announced that the city would not be looking for a replacement for retiring police Chief Bill Baker. Instead, the city is creating the new position of director of public safety to oversee all police, fire and rescue operations and services.

As Baker noted at the city’s Jan. 10 press conference, placing a single director in charge of municipal fire and police operations is a common practice in other areas of the country. In most cases, the change is driven by financial motives, as it can eliminate the need for the high-paying administrative positions of fire and police chief.

“It’s certainly necessary for people like the mayor to look at creative alternatives,” Baker said at the press conference. “It’s clearly a way to save money and streamline the structure of this particular area of city government.”

With initiatives such as the consolidating of school districts and the merging of public safety dispatch services, streamlining local and regional government has been of particular focus in Maine over the past few years. In light of the economic recession, with its staggering impact on municipal revenue and state educational funding, consolidating has become even more necessary to maintain services and keep tax rates low.

So Westbrook, which expects to save $70,000-$100,000 a year due to the switch in structure, now becomes a test case of sorts for other communities, including Windham, Cape Elizabeth, South Portland and Scarborough, that might want to make a similar change in the name of saving tax dollars.

Elsewhere in the country, the reorganization of municipal public safety departments has often led to controversy. In some cases, depending on the local contracts, police and firefighter unions are unwilling to give up a roster spot.

Far and away the most common point of contention in these mergers, however, is whether a single director can relate to – and meld – the respective cultures present in fire and police departments. To that end, it is common practice for a new director to train outside of his or her area of expertise. For example, a public safety director who comes to the job after a lifetime of police work would complete some level of firefighter training, as well, and would spend considerable time, at least at first, monitoring that department’s day-to-day operations, getting a feel for its workload, responsibilities and personality.

But when the mergers work, they without doubt save money on department administrative costs, which then holds down the tax rate and saves funds to be spent on the police officers, firefighters and emergency technicians who, by answering the calls, have the most significant impact on public safety.

Ben Bragdon is the managing editor of Current Publishing. He can be reached at bbragdon@keepmecurrent.com or followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/benbragdon.