City holds firehouse staffing issue

By Michael Glover

The Fort Scott Tribune

The Fort Scott City Commission Tuesday, postponed making a decision on how to staff the eastside fire station.

Public Safety Director Jeff Davis at the commission meeting presented several options on how to staff Fort Scott Fire Station No. 2, which is nearing completion and slated to open July 15.

He said, hiring three firefighters would give the department five firefighters on duty-- four at the Hawkins Public Safety Building -- and one at the new station who would be there 90 percent of the time.

Hiring three firefighters would reduce overtime costs associated with filling vacancies in shifts due to sick leave or vacations. Right now, the department maintains a staff of four on-duty firefighters on one shift. They try to hire a reserve firefighter to fill a vacancy. When they can't get a reserve to work, the department pays overtime to a current firefighter to maintain the four-person shift.

With the three positions, each shift will have five firefighters. It would eliminate the need for a paid firefighter to receive overtime. The savings would be approximately $30,000.

Commissioners nearly voted to hire three firefighters. Instead, they decided to hold off on making a decision until the 2009 budget process works its way forward. The commission will be discussing that budget in detail next month.

"That's going to give us a clearer picture of what we can do," Commissioner Barbara Wood said.

Ideally, the city would like to hire six firefighters, which was another option presented. That would allow a two-man crew at the eastside station. This scenario would give Davis more options on what vehicles could operate out of the facility. The rescue truck and ambulance must be occupied by at least two people. Both vehicles could work out of the building. It wouldn't disrupt or reduce FSFD's ability to respond to structure fires since the standard four-person crew would be stationed at Hawkins.

But the problem with hiring six is figuring out how to pay for it. The net cost for hiring six would be $170,000 a year, or $100,000 more than hiring three.

A cheaper alternative than hiring three or six is merely hiring a fire administrative fire officer that would work 40 hours a week. The officer would assist in fire administration, fire inspections, code enforcement, and other duties. The person would respond to fires or emergencies and cover some of the vacancies created by vacation or sick leave, resulting in the reduction of overtime pay just like the hiring of six or three firefighters. It would cost the city $30,000 after subtracting money saved from paying overtime.

Another option, although less viable, would be to move the current four person crew over to the eastside station. "The problem that presents is that it's a two-bay station. I can put an engine in there. I can put a rescue truck in there. I would not be able to put an ambulance in there," Davis said.

Another choice would be simply not to staff the station and have off duty firefighters respond to it when called.

Davis said splitting the current four-person on duty crew between both stations could be another option. But it would remove the department's standard four-person crew, resulting in putting the city into non-compliance with the National Fire Protection Association's guidelines.

The city applied for a government grant that would partially fund the staffing of the fire station. They applied twice and were denied both times. Applications for the grant well outnumber funds set aside for the grant.

A possible scenario discussed was to approve the hiring of six and then reapply for the grant in the hope of securing funding for the other three. The city has already set aside funding in the 2008 budget for the hiring of three firefighter positions.

Also at Tuesday's meeting, commissioners:

* Designated $5,000 to Bourbon County CASA(Court Appointed Special Advocates). The money will come from the city's Special Alcohol and Drug fund. Cash balances for the fund is currently at $23,746. The money helps CASA to continue to provide support for advocates for the children in the community.

* Allotted $5,000 to the Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center for their chemical abuse services offered at the Fort Scott office.

* Read for the second and final time an amended ordinance for residency requirements of city employees. The revised ordinance now says that all employees are required to live within Bourbon County. New employees are expected to establish residency within the county no later than six months after they start at the city. Public safety employees must be able to report within 30 minutes from Fort Scott.

* Awarded 13-year-old Nathan Wiebelhaus a plaque for designing a logo for the city's Safe Routes to School program.

* Heard a report on the city's re-designed Web site that should be unveiled in two to four weeks. It will have more information, news items, pictures and graphics on the site.