CC_Minutes_2013_0318 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Regular City Council Meeting Monday,March 18,2013 Page 20 over the last 4-5 years. Chief O'Neill advised that all existing sirens would need converted into the current model, and that was the intent of that line item. At the request of Mayor Roe,Mr. Miller advised that he would add that to the CIP to ensure adequate future funding as adequate. At the request of Councilmember Etten, Chief O'Neill provided more detail on the compensation/benefit package for part-time firefighters, some including im- plementation of the federally-mandated Health Reform Act. Mayor Roe noted that the department's August 20, 2012 Strategic Plan provided some of that detail. Chief O'Neill reviewed those items most pressing based on the Health Care Re- form Act soon to be implemented, as well as other options for the department to continue services today. Chief O'Neill noted that some part-time firefighters al- ready work in excess of thirty(30)hours/week, and they would therefore be quali- fied for coverage under the Act, and the City would have to offer them health care coverage beginning as early as 2014. Chief O'Neill advised that this opened the question as to whether the City would only offer health care coverage for those individuals or classify them as full-time employees with paid time off(PTO) also built in along with other benefits of full-time City employees. If that was done, Chief O'Neill advised that between 8-15 employees would reach that thirty-hour criteria annually, depending on their ability to provide that much time to the City on an annual basis. Whether or not they were able to provide those services to the community would impact the department and City's staffing models, including current firefighter wages of between $9.00 and $13.00, with Chief O'Neill noting that wage rate had been a discussion point for some time. At this time, Chief O'Neill advised that he had provided three (3) options for City Manager Malinen, Finance Director Miller and Human Resources Manager Bacon to review and consider to enhance the department and bring stabilization to its staffing, with his recommendation falling within the $400,000 range and addressing mandates and achieving that stability. Chief O'Neill noted that one potential result of not ad- dressing wages or PTO for firefighters could include their unionization, a result he would prefer to circumvent through addressing it in advance and taking control of the situation. Chief O'Neill noted the options for offering only health care would be approximately $82,000.00, with a full-time staffing model at the $1.2 - $1.4 million range, with his three options somewhere in the middle of those two extremes, of which his recommendation would fall within the $400,000.00 range as previously noted. Chief O'Neill advised that the overall goal is to ensure and stabilize the future of the department and the community well into the future. Mayor Roe noted the other consideration in conducting a study to determine fu- ture opportunities for medical services (e.g. ambulance service) that could provide a revenue source while recognizing that there would also be costs associated with such a step.