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.
