Posts Tagged Barrington to lay off 19 firefighters

Barrington Countryside FPD signs staffing agreement

Sep 9

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News, Fire Service News | 7 Comments

From the Barrington Countryside FPD website:

Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District Trustees formally signed an agreement with Schiller Park-based Paramedic Services of Illinois (PSI) to provide the District with 33 full-time firefighter/paramedics when it begins independent operations on January 1, 2014.

The contract’s signing at a September 5 special meeting allows Fire Chief/Administrator Jeff Swanson to begin working with PSI to fully staff the District’s Barrington Hills and Lake Barrington fire stations. Trustees also began discussions with PSI on ways to further increase staffing levels with supplemental part-time personnel.

Plans call for hiring to begin in October, with firefighter training and familiarization starting in early November. All District firefighter/paramedics will be employed by PSI but report directly to Chief Swanson.

As part of the staffing agreement, PSI will hire Barrington firefighters who wish to continue their careers with the BCFPD after they lose their jobs with the village in December.

Trustees had delayed the signing of the PSI contract because the village has not yet released the names of the firefighters who will be laid off. That makes it difficult for the District – and the affected firefighters – to plan accordingly.

“We hope the village will release those names immediately, so those firefighters have ample time to apply for positions with the District,” Chief Swanson says.

These firefighters will receive salary and paid time-off benefits that are identical to what they earned as village employees. They will also have the opportunity to become officers in the new department.

Meanwhile, BCFPD trustees received a letter of support from elected officials representing Barrington Hills, Lake Barrington, North Barrington, South Barrington, Barrington and Cuba Townships, and Lake County – nearly every jurisdiction the District serves.

The letter applauds trustees’ decision to approve the staffing agreement with PSI, saying it “will ensure that well-qualified, experienced personnel – including those who may be separated from the village of Barrington as part of its reduction in force – will be available to serve all the District’s residents.”

With the PSI agreement completed, District trustees will focus on confirming a date to divide the apparatus and equipment jointly-owned by both the District and village of Barrington. Board members may consider supplemental equipment purchases, depending on how the current equipment is divided.

Tags: Barrington & Countryside Fire Protection District, Barrington Countryside Fire Protection, Barrington Countryside FPD Fire Chief/Administrator Jeff Swanson, Barrington FPD terminates their contract with the Village of Barrington, Barrington to lay off 19 firefighters, Paramedic Services of Illinois, staffing agreement for Barrington Countryside FPD

Barrington Fire District offers to hire laid off firefighters

Aug 27

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News, Fire Service News | 3 Comments

The Daily Herald has an article about the Barrington & Countryside FPD offering to hire all 19 pf the laid off Barrington firefighters.

The Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District will offer jobs to all 19 firefighters to be laid off by the village of Barrington on Jan. 1 at their current union-level salaries and earned vacation time.

But these firefighters have to take advantage of their preferred status by applying before Aug. 31.

“We know how valuable these employees are,” fire district President Tom Rowan said. “We helped to train them.”

What the fire district won’t offer — at least not immediately — are the pension plans these firefighters have had as members of the Barrington Fire Department’s union. The employees will start 401(k) plans instead.

The finalization of the fire district’s 2014 staffing plan Monday came one week after the village of Barrington did the same.

Both agencies are preparing to end the long-running contract in which the village provided staffing for the 48-square-mile fire district just beyond its borders.

The fire district will employ an increased staff of 34, largely through private contractor Paramedic Services of Illinois. District trustees have been working with the firm to ensure that Barrington’s laid-off firefighters can be hired at their current salaries.

Yet to come is the division of the equipment the agencies co-own, as well as determination of the exact nature of their cooperation after Jan. 1.

Fire district trustees are skeptical of the automatic-aid agreement Barrington is proposing that would ask both agencies to take primary responsibility for calls closest to their respective stations, regardless of which jurisdiction they’re actually in.

Fire district trustees say they want to be assured they’re getting roughly as much help as they’re giving.

Barrington village officials say firefighters based in the village have responded to calls in the district about 2.5 times as often as the reverse over the last four years.

But fire district Trustee Tom Long said the staffing changes to be implemented on Jan. 1 make any such historical data irrelevant.

While the fire district’s stations in Barrington Hills and Lake Barrington are currently staffed by three people each, in 2014 they each will have a full crew of five or six at all times, Long said.

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Tags: Barrington & Countryside Fire Protection District, Barrington Fire Department, Barrington Fire Department staffing, Barrington Fire district President Tom Rowan, Barrington FPD terminates their contract with the Village of Barrington, Barrington to lay off 19 firefighters, fire district and village split in Barrington, Paramedic Services of Illinois

Barrington village determines new FD staffing model

Aug 20

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News, Fire Service News | 1 Comment

The Barrington village board met last night and had a full house in attendance. One item on the agenda was a staffing proposal for the Barrington Fire Department as of january 1, 2014 when the agreement with the Barrington & Countryside FPD expires. The Barrington Courier-Review has an article outlining the new staffing and the meeting surrounding the vote.

In a momentous step to restructure the fire and emergency services in the Barrington area, the Barrington Village Board voted unanimously Monday to lay off 19 firefighter-paramedics at the end of the year.

The layoffs result from the termination of a long-standing intergovernmental agreement that had the village department and the Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District working together over an area of more than 50 square miles.

To reduce operational costs from personnel and equipment and rein in future insurance and pension obligations, Barrington has opted to focus on its five-square-mile territory. The protection district, which decided to terminate the agreement effective Jan. 1, 2014 will continue to serve 46 square miles in the surrounding communities.

With the 7-0 vote Monday, Barrington trustees put an end to months of emotional debate by making official a plan to start next year with a department of 19 firefighter-paramedics.

“The new staffing plan costs a little more than minimal staffing, but that will be money well spent if it provides additional services and increases public safety in Barrington,” said Village President Karen Darch in a statement after the vote. “However, in the long term, we are removing a major burden from taxpayers — the burden of paying skyrocketing pension and disability payments for employees that have served outside our community.”

He noted an $80,000 difference in annual costs between the options. Trustees ultimately decided to go with a staff of 19, with 19 layoffs.

“With enhanced EMS service, we are better equipped to respond to our most frequent calls for service — those that come from residents in need of emergency medical attention,” said Barrington Fire Chief Jim Arie. “Instead of relying on response from miles away, we can dispatch a second ambulance right from our own firehouse. This means we can get help to where it’s needed faster and reduce response times when we have overlapping calls.”

Before trustees made their decision Monday, several residents and stakeholders pleaded with the board to reconsider.

Char McLear, a retired assistant fire chief in Barrington, called the move an arrogant and self-serving attack on the fire department. “This is the real world and there is no room for politics,” McLear said. “This is politics, not fiscal responsibility. “I’m outraged at your irresponsible actions in regards to the fire department. We in this village have to live with the ramifications of your decision.”

In response to the layoffs, the protection has expressed an interest in hiring as many laid off Barrington emergency responders as possible through its contract with Paramedic Services of Illinois, a private company. However, those hired by PSI face the possibility of working outside their current pension plans.

In explaining the staffing decisions, Darch noted that keeping 18 personnel on staff would cost the village about $80,000 more a year above the fire department’s planned budget for 2014. She added that the extra two firefighters would, however, give the department more flexibility.

Personnel would operate out of Fire Station 1 on three shifts, each with a dedicated shift commander.

Village officials began discussing the separation in 2012 amid disagreements with the district regarding the hiring of additional personnel and the purchase of new equipment.

The report stated that the fire department’s automatic aid agreements with the Lake Zurich Fire Department, the Palatine Rural Fire Protection District and the Long Grove Fire Protection District would stay in place. For mutual aid, the fire department would still be part of the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System, as it has been for several decades.