Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Safety Staffing topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Councilmember objects to proposed unrestricted hiring for new firefighting team; motion to hire named recruits recorded
Summary
Councilmember Ryan opposed moving forward with hiring a full firefighting team without a budget cap or clear headcount, calling the plan —unacceptable.— Councilmember Corey moved to approve hiring several named individuals; the transcript excerpt does not include the subsequent vote.
Councilmember Ryan raised objections during council reports July 14 to a proposal to hire an entire firefighting team without a defined budget cap or fixed headcount, saying the approach was "unacceptable" and risked shifting paid on-call firefighters away from neighboring departments.
"It's unacceptable that we have an entire team with no budget, and we aren't even able to know how many employees will make up this team," Councilmember Ryan said. He added that unlimited hiring risks "safeguard[ing] taxpayer funds" and could reduce the firefighting capacity of other municipalities if on-call firefighters are recruited away.
Later in the meeting, Councilmember Corey moved to approve the hiring of named individuals, saying the action was to hire "Gregory Hubbard, Joseph Tiedemann, Christopher Brooks, Miles Lafave, Eric Perome." The motion text in the transcript appears to be incomplete; the provided excerpt does not include a second nor a vote on that motion.
The transcript excerpt records the dispute and the motion but does not include a recorded council decision on the hiring item in the provided portion of the meeting. The statements in this article are drawn directly from the transcript; the meeting portion that would record a final vote or additional motions was not included in the excerpt provided to the reporter.
