http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-firefighters5dec20,0,2931024.story?coll=stam-news-local-headlines
By Louis Porter
Staff Writer
December 20, 2004
STAMFORD -- A plan to reduce overtime spending for firefighting has city officials scrambling to make sure it doesn't cost money instead of saving it.
Eight "floating firefighters" hired this year were supposed to reduce overtime at Stamford Fire and Rescue and three of the volunteer fire companies. Instead of putting firefighters on overtime to cover shifts when their colleagues were out sick or on vacation, the new hires were going to do the job at regular pay rates.
But there was no agreement that would allow the firefighters to work in the Glenbrook, Turn of River or Belltown volunteer fire departments. So city officials and the volunteer chiefs are left trying to compromise on a plan they can use in the future, and cutting costs elsewhere to prevent losing money.
Meanwhile, money cut from the overtime budgets of the three volunteer departments to pay for the floating firefighters is being restored. The three volunteer companies have three paid firefighters to drive engines and do other tasks during the day, and two paid members on nights and weekends.
Whenever a paid firefighter is out sick, on disability or on vacation, a replacement works on overtime, those familiar with the system said.
Although the new firefighters have not worked in the volunteer companies, their presence has reduced overtime expenses in Stamford Fire and Rescue enough that the plan probably won't cost money, Mayor Dannel Malloy said.
But it also won't save the expected $100,000, at least this year.
"It's not going to cost us money but we have been unable to reach compromises with some of the departments," Malloy said.
Problems with the plan haven't pleased members of the Board of Finance, who recently approved replacing the $334,466 for overtime cut from the budgets of the three departments to help pay for the floating firefighters.
When the plan first was presented to the board earlier in the year, it seemed the volunteer companies were on board, some members of the board said.
"We basically were duped," Republican James Rubino said. "When the administration asked for the Board of Finance's approval of the floater concept, they failed to mention that the Big Five (volunteer companies) did not agree to use it. That was dishonest. Whether it is by incompetence or design is immaterial. The administration needs to give us the material facts if it expects us to make informed decisions."
Board of Finance Chairman Tim Abbazia said the idea to rein in overtime spending on firefighting was necessary.
"We needed to address overtime costs and this was one method of doing so," said Abbazia, a Democrat.
But there were problems with the way the plan was handled, he said.
"There does need to be a little better communication and collaboration between the volunteer firefighters and the director of Public Safety, Health and Welfare," Abbazia said. "Regardless of how it happened, it didn't work as intended. The fact that we are in this position indicates it wasn't done as well as it should have been."
Public Safety, Health and Welfare Director William Callion said he explained the floating firefighter plan to the volunteer chiefs and they agreed with the concept.
The city did not anticipate that there would be a firewall between the volunteer companies and Stamford Fire and Rescue that would prevent the same firefighters from working in both, Callion said.
He hopes the disagreements can be ironed out and a plan developed for the work to get done by firefighters on regular pay, not time-and-a-half, Callion said.
"I'm hopeful, in spite of all the innuendo, inference and accusations, that at the end we are all working on the same team," he said.
The city should have known firefighters can't move between the volunteer and all-professional departments, volunteer firefighters said. According to a management agreement from 1996 and various union contracts, the volunteer chiefs have autonomy in deciding who works in their fire companies.
"We are more than willing to cooperate. We are not willing to breach contracts," said John Didelot, chief of the Belltown department.
The plan the departments saw was a rough outline presented in a 10-minute meeting, not a full plan, the chiefs said.
"It was very sketchy," Turn of River Chief Ray Whitbread said. "We are OK with the concept. It was the implementation that was quite hazy and unexplained."
Many important questions were left unanswered, Whitbread and Didelot said. For instance, will those in the floating firefighter program respond to calls with two, instead of four, paid firefighters on a truck? Who is in charge at a fire scene? Will they be trained in operating pumper trucks and drafting water from the ponds used to put out fires in much of North Stamford?
They made it clear to the city they would not agree with the proposal unless it was modified and clarified, the chiefs said.
But Director of Administration Benjamin Barnes said the Belltown, Glenbrook and Turn of River chiefs have been dragging their feet.
"This is not rocket science," Barnes said. "They do mutual aid on the fly all the time. It's pretty straightforward."
Recently, the volunteer chiefs presented a plan to hire additional firefighters for the three volunteer companies to work for whichever company needed them.
"They would become permanent employees of those departments," Whitbread said. "They would be a lot more familiar with the unique procedures in our departments."
Hiring four firefighters to work in the volunteer companies may work, but it will not save as much as it would if they rotated among all departments, Barnes said.
"There are some things that can't be done and there are some things that may be good ideas," Malloy said of the proposal from the volunteers.
In the larger scheme, the city may have to reassess fire protection, Malloy said.
"We are a city that has six different fire departments and at some point we are going to have to take a look at if that is the most efficient way to provide fire services," he said.
At a meeting tonight of the Fiscal Committee, members of the Board of Representatives will discuss whether to appropriate the additional money needed to cover overtime costs for the volunteer departments.
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