Hire an Administration Fire Captain to replace the vacant Office Services Worker and paid-on-call Lieutenant positions.

Authorize the hire of one Administration Fire Captain position at grade 8.

The Fire Department has had an Office Assistant position for the last ten years. In January of 2017, the Office Assistant resigned. There has also been an open Paid-On-Call Lieutenant position since January of 2017 due to a resignation. 

With these openings, we’ve taken the opportunity to look at what the Fire Department could do to better serve our community. By filling the Office Assistant position with an Administration Fire Captain that has firefighting experience, it will enhance the department in multiple areas:

First, it will increase our daily communication with customer questions, comments, or concerns. Personnel in this position with a firefighting background will be able to answer questions more efficiently and with better accuracy. They will also be able to better assist other city staff with questions and completing tasks such as scheduling meeting rooms, etc.  There will be less of a burden on the Fire Chief and Fire Marshal to take these calls and emails that can be handled at that level. 

Second, the personnel in this position will back fill open full-time firefighter shifts during the day due to vacations or sickness. They will only be out when there’s a fire call, otherwise they will perform their normal duties. Currently, paid-on-call firefighters back fill open shifts and they’re paid the starting wage of a full-time firefighter.

Another advantage to this position is with reporting.  Reporting was being completed by the Office Assistant and then double checked and submitted by the Fire Marshal.  With a firefighter in this position, reporting will be able to be handled from start to finish.  This will increase productivity and efficiency within the department.

This position will also supervise full-time and paid-on-call firefighters. Currently full-time firefighters are tasked with various job responsibilities within the department. It is not uncommon to have duties and responsibilities overlap and interfere with each other.  The Administration Fire Captain will provide the supervision and scheduling of job duties to reduce that interference and increase productivity in the department.

The supervision of paid-on-call firefighters covers everything from managing payroll to making sure personnel records are in order. In the past, these duties were divided between the Office Assistant and other full-time staff. This will ease the burden on them in addition to making it easier for paid-on-call firefighters.

The Administration Fire Captain will also be responsible for scheduling and tracking equipment maintenance so that items such as hose testing, ladder testing, pump testing, etc. are completed timely and accurately and proper record keeping is being completed.

There are many more benefits of the addition of an Administration Fire Captain that are detailed in the job description. Adding the position without filling the other two openings and covering open full-time shifts will reduce cost to the department which is detailed below:

Salary of Administration Fire Captain Position:

• Grade 8F $68,519

Funding for the position:

• Open Office Assistant Salary:                       $54,055

• Open Paid-on call Lieutenant Salary:            $2,500

• Reduced Back Filling:                                   $26,900 in 2016
• Total with back filling 100%:                        $83,530 (Office Worker + Lieutenant + $26,900)

• Total with back filling 50%:                          $70,080 (Office Worker + Lieutenant + $13,450)

Cost Savings:

• $15,011 (with back filling 100%)

• $1,561 (with back filling 50%)

The hiring process for the position will be completed by the Human Resources Department and will follow the same procedures as hiring comparable positions within other city departments.