By Wynne Parry
Staff Writer
04/06/2008 01:00:00 AM EDT
STAMFORD - Faced with dramatic growth in population and construction, officials want to assess fire protection provided by Stamford's hybrid system of paid and volunteer firefighters.
But a proposal to hire a company to study fire service has drawn criticism from some volunteers who say it is part of the city's plan to consolidate fire operations and threatens their autonomy.
The contract for the $131,699 study is slated to go to the Board of Representatives tomorrow.
"It's about the fact that Stamford is going to grow 20 (percent) to 25 percent - a whole swath of demised property that is about to be full of businesses and thousands of new residents," said Public Safety Director William Callion, refering to development plans that include the South End. "This is what you would expect good management to do."
Volunteer fire companies are funded by taxpayers and staffed mostly with paid firefighters who work for the city, but volunteer chiefs have autonomy over their departments.
If the study is approved, the consultant, TriData, a division of System Planning Corp. in Arlington, Va., will examine the legal framework for the system along with response times, fire station sites, deployment of paid and volunteer firefighters and other aspects. The study will result in a master plan.
TriData was selected because the company has worked with departments made up of paid and volunteer firefighters, said Frank Passero, chief of the Glenbrook volunteer fire department.
Faced with budget cuts and layoffs, Glenbrook agreed to consolidate with Stamford Fire & Rescue, taking on more paid firefighters and an engine.
At a Board of Representatives committee meeting March 27, city Rep. Joseph Coppola, R-15, a former Belltown chief, cast the only vote against the study.
"The purpose is nothing more than to drive a nail into the coffin of the volunteers," Coppola said of the study.
City Rep. John Zelinsky, D-11, said he understands why the volunteers are concerned.
"But you have to look at the whole big picture," Zelinsky said. "The safety of our residents is paramount."
Volunteer chiefs from Springdale, Turn of River and Long Ridge fire departments said they were kept out of the loop when the consultant was selected.
Turn of River Chief Frank Jacobellis questioned the necessity of an outside study.
"We are all knowledgeable people," he said. "Everyone should just sit down and talk, but nobody likes to do that anymore. They just like to call someone else to figure out our problems."
Turn of River is in mediation with the city over the consolidation plan.
A similar study conducted in 1995 found serious staffing shortages in the volunteer departments. It concluded that if taxpayers had to fund a fully paid fire service, it would cost about $15 million at the time for wages and benefits.
Because of personnel changes and litigation, most of the recommendations in the 1995 study were not implemented, Callion said.
"Are we going to throw away $100,000? We did nothing with the first one. What are we going to do with this one when we are all finsihed?" asked Belltown Chief John Didelot.
In January, Mayor Dannel Malloy asked Belltown to accept the consolidation plan, which would have merged Belltown, Glenbrook and Turn of River volunteer departments with the paid departments, to increase staffing flexibility and reduce overtime costs. Belltown refused and instead went all-volunteer.
"The best I can really hope for is they include the volunteers, and they value their opinions and at least listen to us," Didelot said.
City officials have said they are concerned about a lack of information about how many volunteers show up for calls and whether they are properly trained.