Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:
The Elgin Fire Department needs to end the practice of paying firefighters overtime to cover shifts when there isn’t enough staff, Elgin Mayor Dave Kaptain said.
“We’re in a good position for the next two or three years, but this is not sustainable anymore,” Kaptain said during a special city council meeting Wednesday at which overtime expenditures in all city departments were discussed.
The department was directed to study the scheduling system and return to the council in six to nine months with a model that does not rely heavily on overtime to cover vacancies when someone is sick, injured or attending training.
Elgin’s 2017-18 budget calls for the fire department to save $700,000 in overtime by reducing two positions per shift, going from 34 to 32 firefighters on call. By restructuring how the 32 firefighters are deployed for service calls, employees did not have to be laid off, the budget said.
At the Wednesday meeting, Fire Chief Dave Schmidt said his 133-member department is on track to meet the number and will spend close to the $1.1 million budgeted for overtime. The challenges in keeping overtime inline come when firefighters are unable to work for legitimate reasons and someone must be tapped to take their place to ensure there are enough people available, Schmidt said.
About 75 percent of the fire department’s calls are for ambulance service and the department is looking at what other cities do to control their costs. They’re also exploring programs that might be able to meet the needs of people who call for ambulances frequently or provide more efficient ways to deal with calls that are more minor.
Kaptain said the fire department has been using an overtime model for at least 15 years, and he is concerned about factors that could make it less dependable or effective. Younger firefighters aren’t as enthusiastic about working overtime, he said, and over-relying on overtime could increase the likelihood of mistakes happening.
Beyond that, Elgin’s population continues to grow — 500 homes and 250 apartments are on the drawing board and there’s more residential and commercial development on the horizon — but the city has not added any new firefighters.
Whatever staff might find, Kaptain said, the International Association of Firefighters Local 439 will need to be part of the discussion. Noting past tensions between the union and city management, he said, “Us versus them has to stop. The union needs to be at the table, and we all need to push forward together.” Fire union President Joe Galli said they want to be involved in such discussions. Their concerns are not about preserving overtime pay but doing what’s safest for their members.
#1 by Mike Mc on September 26, 2018 - 10:53 PM
Mike: Thanks for the clarification and info. I was not aware that the ambos no longer jump to the trucks. Hard for an outsider to keep track of departments that have encrypted radios.
#2 by Mike on September 26, 2018 - 1:37 PM
Sebastian I think your numbers are a little off. While Elgin’s staffing is bad your numbers seem to be wrong. Elgin’s minimum manning per day is 32. With so they have 6 engines, 1 quint and 2 trucks plus the ambos to staff. If I math right they have 5 houses with 5 people and 2 with 3 people. They did change who jumps to the truck at station 1 and 2. It used to be the ambulance and that was when their staffing was 34. Ambulance 1 and 2 were 3 person companies. Now with the manning at 32 the engines jump between the truck and their engine. This concept sucks just as bad.
#3 by Bill Post on September 26, 2018 - 11:39 AM
Thanks for the information Sebastian. So in other words the trucks run with three because they use the staffing from the engine as opposed to the ambulance as the jump company correct? At least when the trucks run they run with three. But to have crews in the other stations have to jump between the engine and ambulance really doesn’t sound good. Do the engines at stations 6, 4, and 5 and the quint at Station 7 at least run with three? If so do all three ride on the ambulances? Thanks.
#4 by Bill Post on September 26, 2018 - 10:23 AM
Sebastian so it looks like the Elgin Fire Department is in even worse shape if the engines and ambulances in 6,7,4, and 5 are already jump companies.
Perhaps the local firefighters organization with the help of the national organization should begin a public relations campaign explaining how the people of Elgin are being short changed.
#5 by Sebastian on September 26, 2018 - 4:38 AM
Gentleman, stations 2 and take the engine out of service when the truck is out. The ambos are always fully staffed, stations 6, 7, 4 and 5 are jump companies with their engins and ambos already. And truck 7 is a quint.
#6 by Bill Post on September 25, 2018 - 10:52 PM
Mike Mc, so since the truck companies in Elgin get their manpower from an ambulance, then I presume you are saying they only run with two men correct?
I have another possible solution. Why not replace the trucks with quints. At least they won’t have to play Russian Roulette with the ambulances that are located with the trucks. As a rule ambulances are busier and there is a decent chance that they may be on a run when a fire alarm comes in. Then you still don’t have a truck available. At least if that station becomes a quint house, the quint will still be able to respond even if the ambulance is out.
#7 by Mike Mc on September 24, 2018 - 10:39 PM
Chief Schmidt will probably have to propose taking another ambulance out of service and only staffing it when all 32 are available for duty. The brown out of one fire company per shift is another, but more unpleasant, option. The current five ambulances may seem like a lot but the city does not have a dedicated truck and relies on two of the ambulances to act as jump companies to staff the trucks. The chief should point out to the mayor that Elgin might very well be the only city that size without a single dedicated truck company in the United States. Any threats of layoff sound like positioning for bargaining. The city has only seven fire companies and seven stations. Does the mayor really want to close a fire station? I suppose you could operate station 6 with just a relocated ambo and the chief. Milwaukee did it for several years. Kind of a demented way of fooling the public by giving the image the fire station is exactly that and not a garage.
Big Moe: the sad fact is that it’s cheaper to pay overtime than higher more firefighters. CFD a great example. Ditto for police departments.
#8 by Mike C on September 23, 2018 - 5:50 PM
Big Moe, that’s to simple! The Elgin City Council and mayor is full of illiterates!
#9 by Big Moe on September 23, 2018 - 8:16 AM
This one is easy. If you want to reduce overtime, hire more firefighters, so when a sick call comes in there will still be enough personnel to meet the minimum staffing called for in the CBA. If the minimum is 32 and you staff 32, then there is going to be O/T.