Monday, August 15, 2011
BOARDMAN
Township officials will use a grant to recall three laid-off firefighters.
Boardman was awarded a $334,646 grant through the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Program (SAFER) in February. The grant is to be used for hiring firefighters in Boardman, and the funds provide for salaries, benefits and general equipment needs.
The grant stipulates that the fire department cannot dip below 2010 firefighter staffing levels of 38, when the grant application was submitted, for the duration of the grant, which is two years.
“We’ll be able through the SAFER grant to have the full-time equivalents of 38 firefighters working in the township until 2014 because of the federal money,” said township Administrator Jason Loree.
“We wouldn’t be able to accept that money if the [police] levy was not successful because we would have been laying off a bunch of people, and it wouldn’t have made sense to accept the SAFER grant and actually enact it,” he added.
Voters approved a 3.85-mill, five-year additional police levy Aug. 2. Trustees had said that if the levy failed, township employees from all departments would have faced layoffs.
Harry Wolfe, president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 1176, said he was pleased trustees are using the grant.
“I’m glad they finally did. I wish they would have done it earlier,” he said.
Loree said the fire department has had five retirements since the grant application.
“We can fill three vacancies with free money,” he said. “... Going to 38 full-time equivalents, it’s possible it could be a mix [of full and part time]. We’re looking at exploring our options immediately.”
That involves midcontract negotiations with the IAFF.
Wolfe said the union is aware of the situation but added he doesn’t see why the township wouldn’t hire full-time firefighters with the lower starting wage included in the most recent contract. Under the contract, starting full-time firefighters make $24,000 annually — or about $8.71 per hour. Full-time firefighters work 2,756 hours per year.
“How much lower can you go?” Wolfe said. “I’m serious. It’s a dangerous job. ... But we will talk about it when the time presents itself.”
Still, Wolfe called the decision to use the grant “a move in the right direction.”
Loree said the administration wants all departments to be a blend of part- and full-time employees. The only two departments in the township that do not have part-time employee provisions in their contracts are fire and police, with the exception of the emergency dispatchers.
“We’re well on our goal to having mixed departments,” he said.
Asked about minimum manning levels, which are at six firefighters per shift, Loree said that once the firefighters are recalled through the SAFER grant, the administration plans to move it up to seven.