With most towns in the state merging fire and EMS departments, Marion officials aim to follow suit in the hope of reducing the amount of duplicate work for Fire Chief Thomas Joyce.

Since last year, Joyce has been acting as head of the EMS, following the resignation of the department’s director.

Joyce and Town Administrator Paul Dawson discussed merging the two departments with the Selectmen on Tuesday, June 19.

Dawson commended Joyce’s effective management of both departments.

“Joyce really stepped up to the plate, and for the last year, he has performed that job admirably,” Dawson said.

“I think everyone would agree the move was a positive one. I’ve heard the morale of the two groups has never been higher. All members of the EMS have really rallied behind Chief Joyce.”

However, Joyce has been stuck with “a duplication of efforts,” Dawson said.

As head of the Fire Department, Joyce is responsible for handling the administrative side as well as the hiring and budgets for the Fire Department.

With EMS, Joyce is essentially doing twice the amount of paperwork, Dawson said.

“This makes efficiency difficult,” Dawson said.

Merging the departments would reduce the amount of duplicate work for the Fire Chief, Dawson said.

Selectman John Henry said he was open to the idea but would like more information.

“I’ve been an advocate of doing this for quite some time. I would like to be right up to speed on the organizational structure of how this would work. I have an idea but I would like to see a presentation,” Henry said.

Selectmen Chair Stephen Cushing agreed.

“They’ve been operating under one umbrella, side-by-side,” Cushing said. “I would like see conceptually what this is going to look like. We’re at a point that makes all the sense in the world to merge these together.”

Selectman Jody Dickerson said this was not the first time the proposal was made.

“I believe it’s probably time. I know it was discussed in the mid-90s when I was on the board. I think this is probably the way the departments are going,” Dickerson said.

Dawson said he was confident the two departments would continue to work together successfully. He added that the structure of the two departments is similar, which would make for a smooth transition if Selectmen vote to merge the two.

“This is not doing away with EMS. We’ve seen how well they’ve worked together, and they can take it to new and higher levels,” Dawson said.

Dawson and Joyce will make a formal presentation to the Selectmen to further discuss the issue on a date yet to be determined.