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<br />WS – Item 8 <br /> <br />WORK SESSION STAFF REPORT <br />Work Session Item No. 8 <br /> <br /> <br />Date: February 6, 2023 <br /> <br />To: City Council <br /> <br />From: John Swenson, Public Safety Director <br /> <br />Re: Hire Additional Part-Time Duty Crew <br /> <br /> <br />Background <br /> <br />As approved in the 2022 City of Lino Lakes budget the Public Safety Department hired <br />part-time firefighter to provide daytime fire response. The staffing goal was to hire 10 <br />part-time firefighters to staff the daytime fire duty crew along with our two full-time fire <br />staff (Deputy Director – Fire Division and Fire Lieutenant). <br /> <br />Since implementing the daytime fire duty crew, staff has learned that this response model <br />does provide fire staffing during the daytime hours when our POC firefighter are <br />typically not available. Staff also learned that it is common for part-time firefighters <br />employed with our community to be employed by other fire agencies as part-time <br />firefighters. Because our part-time firefighters are employed with other agencies and <br />some are enrolled in college courses, their availability to work in Lino Lakes is limited. <br /> <br />Since implementing the daytime duty crew response model, we have had 77 vacant part- <br />time shifts (as of January 19, 2023) that our current pool of part-time firefighters were not <br />able to fill. <br /> <br />We currently employ nine part-time firefighters and have one candidate for this position <br />in the background investigation portion of the hiring process. One of the nine firefighters <br />serves with MN National Guard and has been activated through July 31, 2023; therefore, <br />is not available to fill any shifts. The other eight firefighters all are employed with <br />multiple fire agencies, four are currently enrolled in college program, and three have <br />employment outside of the fire service. This creates a situation when scheduling staff <br />where there are no part-time firefighters available to meet minimum staff standards; also, <br />when we have short notice vacancies (i.e. sick calls) staff is not able to fill the shift <br />vacancy. <br /> <br />Staff proposes to hire up to 15 part-time firefighters to create a pool of firefighters to fill <br />the needed shifts. <br /> <br />The number of shifts and duration of shifts will not increase therefore no additional <br />funding is needed to increase the number of part-time firefighters to 15. <br />