Amador County – The Ione City Council on Tuesday gave the nod to its city manager and fire chief to continue with the hiring of the third paid fire engineer in the history of the city, despite the lack of a finalized budget, because Measure M will fund the new engineer.
Interim City Manager Jeff Butzlaff in a report said it was his understanding that the three-phase hiring process “may have been put on hold pending the outcome of the forthcoming fiscal year 2011-2012 city budget process.”
He said that it delayed “achievement of 24-hour coverage would make possible in combination with our traditional paid-call firefighter capabilities and staffing.”
Butzlaff said due to expectations of a “particularly difficult year financially with respect to the general fund,” it could be some time before the budget is formally adopted, though work would continuing soon. “In the meantime,” he said, “we could be putting our Measure M funds to work by getting the third fire engineer into service just in time for the busy summer season. Doing so would have no material impact on the city’s financial condition with respect to the general fund challenges that lie ahead.”
He discussed the issue with Fire Chief Ken Mackey, and urged the Chief to explain the issue in a memo. Mackey’s July 24 memo requested Butzlaff to propose the hiring, and described the three-phase program. Phase one was paid-call personnel staffing the fire station 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., seven days a week, for a year. Phase two was hiring two full time fire engineers, working four 10-hour days, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week. Both were completed.
Mackey said phase three was hiring a third fire engineer by July 1, “to complete the master plan for 24-hour a day coverage, seven days a week.” He said the city was only guaranteed coverage for 10 hours a day, and “by hiring the third engineer as planned,” the Council “will assure the citizens the coverage that they understood during the voting of the Measure M.”
Mackey said IFD has an outstanding and extremely dedicated group of paid-call volunteer personnel, who “put in countless hours away from work and family, but at any given time there might be all of them in the city or none.” He said the “value of the combination department (paid and paid-call) is that you always have an immediate response of the on-duty person, backed up quickly by the paid-call personnel.”
Mackey said the intended time frame for the appointment was overlooked due to budget issues, and he urged the appointment, saying it is paid from Measure M funds and not the city general fund. Butzlaff said he concurred with Mackey’s rationale and supported his request.
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
