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Boardman to hire 3 firefighters in January
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Brown
BOARDMAN
The township has made offers of employment to three firefighters who are expected to be hired officially at the first trustee meeting in 2012.
The hirings are to keep the township in line with conditions of a $334,646 federal grant awarded through the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) program. The funds provide for salaries, benefits and general equipment needs for three additional firefighters.
The SAFER grant stipulates that staffing must be maintained at the level in place when the grant was accepted, which for Boardman was 38 firefighters, said Chief George Brown.
“Three firefighters were laid off, and two elected to come back. One new hire will complete the three (from the SAFER grant). The other two are to replace retirements that occurred during the year,” Brown said.
Shaun Serich, of Poland, William Ferrando Jr., of Canfield, and Jessica Kollmorgen, of Huntsburg, Ohio, were offered jobs, pending passage of psychological, physical and drug testing per township policy.
Kollmorgen would not be the first female Boardman firefighter, but she would be the only female firefighter currently on staff, Brown said.
All the candidates have prior firefighting experience, completed a paramedic course and were taken from the civil- service list, the chief said.
Township Administrator Jason Loree said the starting salary for firefighters is $24,000 annually or $8.71 per hour, as firefighters work 2,756 hours each year.
Under the previous collective- bargaining agreement, firefighters had a starting annual salary of $35,000 and reached full pay, about $57,300 annually, in six years, Loree said.
Under the most recent contract, it takes firefighters 22 years to reach that full pay, he said.