By Jim Balow
The Charleston Gazette
CHARLESTON, W. Va. — City Council members approved several sweeping changes Monday in Fire Department policies aimed at ending years of alleged abuse of leave and overtime.
In addition, council members slashed 15 positions within the Fire Department, cutting the staff to 171. The department now has 186 slots, of which 10 are vacant and three are on long-term leave, so two jobs will have to be cut through attrition.
The cost-cutting measures are expected to save about $750,000 a year, which will go toward paying down the city’s underfunded police and fire pension funds, City Manager David Molgaard said.
Afterward, fire Chief Chuck Overstreet said demoralized firefighters plan to file lawsuits to try to block the policy changes.
Many of the changes were recommended by TriData, the consultants who studied deployment and efficiency in the Fire Department this spring, Molgaard said.
TriData found Charleston residents pay $315 per capita for fire protection, while folks in comparable cities pay an average of $152. “For overtime, we’re paying five times what comparable jurisdictions are paying,” Molgaard told members of the Finance Committee.
Firefighters were able to earn overtime, even if they hadn’t worked more than the normal hours in a given pay period, city finance analysts learned.
“The system is designed so the economic incentive is to not show up for work, because when I call you up for work on your off day I pay you time and a half,” Finance Director Joe Estep said earlier Monday.
“The system is upside down. I don’t work when I’m supposed to work. You come in on your off day. We all end up working around 90 days a year.”
Now, firefighters must work 212 hours in a 28-day period before they can get overtime, and there are new rules that allow the chief to call out people to fill unfilled shifts.
“All this is about tightening up all the ways they’ve been manipulating the system, and it’s been manipulated,” Molgaard said. “How do I know we’re on the right track? This brings our overtime to $271,401, which is in a stone’s throw of our target [$217,626 from TriData]. That’s how I know it’s doable.”
Changes in leave and overtime policy are expected to save just over $250,000 a year. Staff reductions will save another $505,000 a year.
Council members overwhelmingly passed both measures with little discussion.
Overstreet said the personnel measures could result in just two people assigned to a fire engine, instead of three. In that case, no one would go inside a burning building until backup arrived, he said. “With three people, at least you have another person to help you.”
Morale is horrible, he said. “It’s the worst I’ve seen. They come down on me, too. It’s hard playing with 171 people when you’ve been counting on 186.”
Several lawsuits are pending, Overstreet said. “They’re fighting everything. They say you can’t take on one entity in the city and not every [department].”
Mayor Danny Jones said he’s already been warned about litigation. “We’ve hired John Tinney of the Tinney Law Firm to represent us.
“We’re going to do what we have to do,” he said. “We demonstrated a need. We’re going to have to continue to make cuts. We may have to cut personnel next year. We may have to raise the fire fee eventually.”
In other business, council members unanimously passed a resolution asking the state to add traffic signals at five intersections in the continuous eastbound through lane of Kanawha Boulevard. The signals would stop traffic only when activated by a pedestrian push button, Councilwoman Mary Jean Davis said.
Copyright 2011 Charleston Newspapers