Hillsboro eliminates assistant fire chief position
By
Brandy Chandler-brandychandler@gmail.com
Out of "a necessity for reasons of economy" a new contract for personnel at Hillsboro Fire and Rescue has prompted the city of Hillsboro to make some staffing changes, including eliminating the assistant fire chief position.
According to a letter sent Aug. 30 by Hillsboro Mayor Dick Zink and Hillsboro Safety and Service Director Ralph Holt to members of the Hillsboro City Council and fire department, "Pursuant to a new budget for the city of Hillsboro and the contract between the city of Hillsboro and the IAFF Local (International Association of Firefighters union) and according (to the Ohio Revised Code) the position of assistant fire chief shall be eliminated as of Sept. 4, 2011. It has been determined that the elimination of this position is a necessity for reasons of economy."
The new contract requires a minimum of 12 union firefighter/paramedics on staff, and four people on each shift.
Holt told The Highland County Press on Friday that the city could not afford to hire another firefighter to be in compliance with the contract, so current Assistant Fire Chief Ed Puckett was returning to a captain's position, and a current department captain was going to be returning to a firefighter/EMT position.
When asked if there would be any cost-savings with the personnel change, Holt said, "I'm sure there will be."
The move was necessary from a budget standpoint, Holt said, but he could not say how much the move would be saving the city. The budget figures were not available Friday, but Holt agreed to discuss the figures early next week.
Holt said that there would be a savings in the pay decrease that Puckett and the captain would be taking. According to payroll figures from the city of Hillsboro, the assistant chief's position was paid $68,764 in 2010.
"The issue is that in the contract the union specified, we were one person down a shift. They wanted four people on per shift. We have two shifts with four people and one shift with three people. We needed to move the assistant chief back to captain and a captain back to a firefighter/EMT and that will make that shift whole again," Holt said.
Holt said that the move will result in better services for the city of Hillsboro and the townships that contract for services, "because we will have the fourth person on a shift."
The union contracts were negotiated by Holt, Zink and Assistant Hillsboro Law Director Kathryn Hapner.
Hapner told The Highland County Press Friday that, "The civil service rules require that when a position is eliminated the person displaced must be offered a vacancy at the same level if one exists. None does in this case. If there is no vacancy then the person being displaced must be offered a position in the next lower classification. If there is no vacancy in the next lower classification (in this case captain) then the person with the fewest retention points in that next lower classification is demoted to the next lower classification and the displaced person in the higher classification is placed in that lower classification. In this case it means Ed is reduced to captain and the captain with the fewest retention points is reduced to firefighter. The city does not have the money to expand the department, so the only alternative is to eliminate positions."
In July, Hillsboro Auditor Gary Lewis wrote a letter to Zink objecting to the new contract clause regarding the 12-person requirement for the department - even if there is a decline in responses - because it takes away management power, which in turn could prevent the city from acting fiscally responsible to the taxpayers.
Out of "a necessity for reasons of economy" a new contract for personnel at Hillsboro Fire and Rescue has prompted the city of Hillsboro to make some staffing changes, including eliminating the assistant fire chief position.
According to a letter sent Aug. 30 by Hillsboro Mayor Dick Zink and Hillsboro Safety and Service Director Ralph Holt to members of the Hillsboro City Council and fire department, "Pursuant to a new budget for the city of Hillsboro and the contract between the city of Hillsboro and the IAFF Local (International Association of Firefighters union) and according (to the Ohio Revised Code) the position of assistant fire chief shall be eliminated as of Sept. 4, 2011. It has been determined that the elimination of this position is a necessity for reasons of economy."
The new contract requires a minimum of 12 union firefighter/paramedics on staff, and four people on each shift.
Holt told The Highland County Press on Friday that the city could not afford to hire another firefighter to be in compliance with the contract, so current Assistant Fire Chief Ed Puckett was returning to a captain's position, and a current department captain was going to be returning to a firefighter/EMT position.
When asked if there would be any cost-savings with the personnel change, Holt said, "I'm sure there will be."
The move was necessary from a budget standpoint, Holt said, but he could not say how much the move would be saving the city. The budget figures were not available Friday, but Holt agreed to discuss the figures early next week.
Holt said that there would be a savings in the pay decrease that Puckett and the captain would be taking. According to payroll figures from the city of Hillsboro, the assistant chief's position was paid $68,764 in 2010.
"The issue is that in the contract the union specified, we were one person down a shift. They wanted four people on per shift. We have two shifts with four people and one shift with three people. We needed to move the assistant chief back to captain and a captain back to a firefighter/EMT and that will make that shift whole again," Holt said.
Holt said that the move will result in better services for the city of Hillsboro and the townships that contract for services, "because we will have the fourth person on a shift."
The union contracts were negotiated by Holt, Zink and Assistant Hillsboro Law Director Kathryn Hapner.
Hapner told The Highland County Press Friday that, "The civil service rules require that when a position is eliminated the person displaced must be offered a vacancy at the same level if one exists. None does in this case. If there is no vacancy then the person being displaced must be offered a position in the next lower classification. If there is no vacancy in the next lower classification (in this case captain) then the person with the fewest retention points in that next lower classification is demoted to the next lower classification and the displaced person in the higher classification is placed in that lower classification. In this case it means Ed is reduced to captain and the captain with the fewest retention points is reduced to firefighter. The city does not have the money to expand the department, so the only alternative is to eliminate positions."
In July, Hillsboro Auditor Gary Lewis wrote a letter to Zink objecting to the new contract clause regarding the 12-person requirement for the department - even if there is a decline in responses - because it takes away management power, which in turn could prevent the city from acting fiscally responsible to the taxpayers.
[[In-content Ad]]