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<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />TO: City Council <br /> <br />FROM: Bryan Bear, City Administrator <br /> <br />SUBJECT: Staffing at the Fire Department <br /> <br />DATE: January 18, 2023 for the City Council workshop of January 25, 2023 <br /> <br />BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS: <br /> <br />In 2022, Council set a goal to discuss staffing needs at the Fire Department. Prior to that, during <br />interviews for the part-time Fire Chief position, Fire Chief Jim Compton Jr, expressed his desire <br />to make this discussion a priority if he were to be selected as Chief. Council has since discussed <br />this topic at a series of workshops in 2022. At the budget workshop in August, Council directed <br />staff to include funding in the 2023 Budget for a full-time Fire Chief. Although the position is <br />now in the adopted 2023 budget, Council has not made a decision to create the position or <br />advertise for it. Obviously, Council is not required to create the position simply because funds <br />are allocated for it in the budget. <br /> <br />The discussion about whether to hire a full-time Fire Chief has included information about call <br />volumes, discussion on City Council priorities, workloads of officers on the Fire Department, <br />and anticipated trends. If a full-time Fire Chief position is created, it will result in a <br />reorganization of responsibilities for all other officers on the Department, and will result in some <br />officer positions being eliminated. Currently, there are 11 total officers on the Fire Department, <br />including the Chief. The most recent report from the Fire Chief recommends that total be <br />reduced to 7 officers, including the Chief. Staff would expect the workload and level of <br />responsibility for each of the remaining officers to be reduced. Likewise, the officer salaries <br />would also be reviewed. <br /> <br />With this situation being uncertain at the end of 2022, the Finance Director simply added a full- <br />time Chief position to the 2023 budget….and also kept all 11 officers budgeted at their current <br />levels. Clearly, we do not expect to hire a full-time Chief and retain all 11 officers, so we expect <br />this funding level to be overkill in 2023 no matter what decision Council makes. The 2024 Fire <br />Department budget would be reduced accordingly with the Council’s decision. <br /> <br />RECOMMENDATIONS: <br /> <br />Attached to this memo is information staff recommends be reviewed prior to the workshop <br />including; <br /> <br /> Updated information on 2022 call volumes and trends <br /> Budget information as it relates to the Fire Department <br />CITY OF HUGO <br /> <br />MEMORANDUM