By Claudia Vargas
The Philadelphia Inquirer
CAMDEN, N.J — Dressed in a too-small Camden Fire Department shirt with someone else’s name printed on it, Roberto Prado beamed Friday during the City Hall swearing-in ceremony of 86 formerly laid-off public-safety workers.
Until that morning, the city had planned to rehire 30 firefighters and 55 police officers through two federal grants and a $2.5 million payment from the South Jersey Port Corp.
But a last-minute call from the Federal Emergency Management Agency gave Mayor Dana L. Redd clearance to rehire one more firefighter.
Prado was No. 31.
“I got the call 20 minutes ago,” said Prado, 40, who had spent most of Thursday night praying that he would somehow get back to work with the department. “They told me I had to wear a [uniform] shirt, so I just grabbed the first one.”
He arrived at City Hall just in time for the 11:30 a.m. ceremony marking the return of about a third of the public-safety workers laid off on Jan. 18.
“I’m glad you made it,” Fire Chief Michael Harper told Prado as he gave him a bear hug.
There was joy in council chambers following the swearing-in. But when the men and women in uniform first settled in their chairs, many said their thoughts were with colleagues who did not make the cut.
“This should have never happened,” said firefighter Wilfredo Concepcion. The last few months have been very difficult for everyone laid off, he said.
Facing a $26.5 million budget deficit, the city let go 336 workers, including 163 police officers and 60 firefighters.
In February, Redd failed to win Council approval for an amended $163.3 million budget that would have raised the property tax 23 percent to rehire 60 public-safety employees.
Council members drafted their own amended $173 million budget, which included a more modest 10 percent property-tax increase. Funds would go toward severance pay for the laid-off workers, but not rehiring.
After listening to a few residents speak out on tax increases, payments in lieu of taxes, and public safety, Council members voted unanimously Friday evening to adopt the 2011 fiscal year budget.
“At this point, I’m just glad to close this chapter and move on,” Redd said following Council’s vote. Her administration already is working on the 2012 fiscal year budget, she said.
Last month, Redd announced a $5.1 million Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant from FEMA to rehire laid-off firefighters for at least two years.
On its way, she said, is a $4.4 million federal Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office grant that will bring back about 10 officers for three years. Redd said she expected those officers to return within a couple of weeks.
A $2.5 million payment in lieu of taxes from South Jersey Port, a quasi-governmental agency, was released to the crime-ridden city through an agreement with the Christie administration. But the money must be used this fiscal year.
What happens July 1, when the next one begins?
“I’m confident we will have departments that are well-staffed,” Redd said Friday, adding that she has had conversations with Gov. Christie about how Camden can retain the officers now returning. She would not offer details.
“I don’t want to preempt the governor,” she said.
She also is considering a shared-services agreement with other county agencies among possible “long-term solutions,” Redd said.
Five additional officers were sworn in Friday to replace staff members who have retired since Jan. 18.
Having more staff is “a tremendous boost to the organization,” said Police Chief Scott Thomson. “These officers are going to be deployed directly into our hot spots, directly into our neighborhoods and into our business districts.” All will be on patrol, he said.
Fire Department officials said that the returned staff would allow them to restore one of the city’s closed companies, Ladder 1. The department will have five engine companies and three ladder companies, said Deputy Chief Daniel Rossi.
“We’re still looking to get the other 29 [firefighters] back,” he said.
Prado, who had been with the department for close to five years before he was laid off, said he was happy to be able to provide for his family again.
“The last few months were really stressful,” he said. “We had to cut back a lot. We found out what we really need.”
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