http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-hire6sep06,0,6737575.story?coll=stam-news-local-headlines
By Natasha Lee
Staff Writer
September 6, 2007
STAMFORD - The city's Fire Commission called a special meeting for today to hire eight new firefighters although there is no funding for the positions.
Stamford Fire & Rescue Department must save more than $500,000 through attrition before it can pay the new firefighters' salaries and benefits, city officials said.
The newly hired personnel will be on standby until the money becomes available.
Mayor Dannel Malloy said the posts could be filled by the year's end.
"The commission wants to have candidates lined up. This is a queuing up of potential hiring; no one is being brought on," Malloy said.
Stamford Fire & Rescue now has 243 firefighters.
The "potential hiring" comes on the heels of citywide budget cuts and layoffs of 16 full-time city employees. The Board of Finance cut $300,000 from Stamford Fire & Rescue's budget this fiscal year.
The department was budgeted for four new hires this year but can't spend the money because of budget cuts. It must reduce salary spending by $539,000 before it can officially hire anyone.
The Fire Commission and Police Commission are the only city commissions that have hiring authority.
The Fire Commission is facing pressure to hire the firefighters before Wednesday, when hiring procedures prevent selection from high-ranking candidates on the eligibility list. After that, selection would be taken from a tier of lower-scoring candidates, according to human resources generalist Felicia Wirzbicki, who oversees hiring of city firefighters.
In 2005, the Fire Commission was scrutinized for controversial hiring practices. The eligibility list raised questions after a commissioner's son, the mayor's nephew and downtown fire chief's son were among candidates in line for jobs.
The panel revamped hiring policies and added a hiring score to the procedures.
The list expires in September 2008, when the commission and the city must start the process of advertising the openings. Keeping firefighters on standby will reduce the time it takes the city and commission to hire new firefighters, city Director of Administration Sandra Dennies said.
"If we waited until the list goes away, we'd have to start the process from the beginning, which means advertising, having people apply, interviewing and making a final selection," she said. "I'd rather have people waiting on the sides."
Four career firefighters from Belltown and Glenbrook volunteer departments, who were laid off in July, will be given priority selection, Wirzbicki said.
The veteran firefighters were placed on a city mandatory re-employment list that gives back their jobs when an opening occurs.
Initially, five firefighters were laid off between the two departments after the departments backed out of a city plan to move downtown firefighters into their firehouses. A Glenbrook paid firefighter, David Francis, was recently rehired after a veteran firefighter retired.
The remaining four vacancies will be filled from the eligibility list, Wirzbicki said.
The move to fill these positions comes almost a year after the city's Personnel Commission approved hiring four firefighters at Stamford Fire & Rescue to help reduce overtime costs. The positions, along with four others approved at Turn of River volunteer fire department, were created in October 2006 but were never filled or funded.
The vacancies, along with the loss of four firefighters this year to retirements and a promotion, brought the department's openings to eight, Wirzbicki said.
Starting salary for city firefighters is just over $41,700 and increases to about $64,000 over five years, according to the city's Human Resources Department.
If hired, candidates would complete a 16-week course at the state fire academy in Windsor Locks sometime in the spring, Fire Chief Robert McGrath said. New hires are on probation for one year, he said.
- Staff Writer Donna Porstner contributed to this story.
Copyright © 2007, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.