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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, March 20, 2017 Page 12 If the City Council was interested, Mayor Roe suggested City staff and/or coun- cilmembers being available to testify or provide additional support for the legisla- tion, once they had reviewed it. 2018 Fire Department Projected Budget and Staffing Plan Chief Brosnahan reviewed proposed 2018 staffing and budget implications for an additional projected $78,000 as the levy impact. Chief Brosnahan further re- viewed the organizational chart for the Fire Department; full-time staffing pro- jected at 22-24 as the long-range goal and involving the attrition plan anticipated since 2014; with a goal of 15 full-time employees by 2018 as a huge step in tran- sitioning the department as an organization. As a point of reference, Chief O'Neill compared the Fire Budget to other cities, call volume and cost per resident as provided in presentation materials. At the request of Councilmember Willmus, Chief O'Neill clarified that he had not compared other city budgets and levies at the level of debt service. At the request of Mayor Roe, Chief O'Neill further clarified that he did not sepa- rate out other cities that operated ambulance services (e.g. Maplewood or Edina). Councilmember McGehee addressed her concerns in the long-term operation of the Fire Relief Fund and those part-time firefighters still involved at this point; and transition to the Public Employees Retirement Fund (PERA) instead. Chief O'Neill clarified that based on the direction of the City Manager and City Council, no additional part-time firefighters had been hired, nor was there any in- tention to do so. Through attrition, Chief O'Neill opined that the number would eventually reach zero, but depending on other variables, he was unable to antici- pate how many may be involved at any one time. Typically of the current thirty remaining part-time firefighters, Chief O'Neill advised that approximately half would respond to a call back situation and he assumed the same number would equate moving forward. Chief O'Neill advised that he was watching the part-time staffing level closely and this would most likely involve looking for three addi- tional firefighters in 2018, bringing the department to its final stage of stability. Chief O'Neill clarified that the department was not nor would it be reliant on part- time firefighters, but that it would benefit the department at a $15 per hour part- time salary versus that of a full-time $35 per hour overtime rate per employee; and continued to keep the staffing level up and involved, but would eventually come to none. Specific to the Fire Relief Association, of the thirty remaining, Chief O'Neill re- ported that about twenty-three part-time firefighters remain. Given the City Council's past decision to move from the Relief Association to PERA, Chief