The police chief in Jackson will wear two hats permanently.
Jackson city council officially named Matt Heins the head of both the police and fire departments Tuesday night.
Heins took over as fire chief in February of last year as part of an effort by the city to save some money, but some aren't exactly thrilled with the arrangement.
For a year and half Matt Heins has been the head of both the police and fire departments.
"The city ran into some tough times and the fire chief retired and took a job down south and at that point, I was placed as head of fire department on a temporary basis," Chief Heins said.
Tuesday night council changed that to permanent.
It's a position that Jackson fire union president Tom Loveberry says a fireman should hold.
"Police chief, fire chief are two different disciplines, Matt's a great guy, but we just don't think we need a police chief running our department," Loveberry said.
With Chief Heins officially overseeing both departments, Loveberry hopes that's where the sharing ends.
"This ordinance is not intended nor should it be construed to create a combined public safety department," said fourth-ward council member Laura Schlecte.
Schlecte says combining police and fire just isn't going to happen.
"This has worked out that Matt has overseen both departments and it has saved us money by having him do both departments."
Loveberry says even if the move is to save money and be more efficient, the city should look toward their neighbors for help, like East Lansing and Lansing fire and not have a police chief head the department.
"That's a viable option, we would like to move to something like that, I think that would be more cohesive to the fire department."
It's something council could consider, but doesn't expect to review for another year or so, meaning for now they will have to make it work.
Fire union president Tom Loveberry says their lawyers are still looking into whether the change is legal and if not the union could take the issue up in court.
