Utica council defeats measure to eliminate chief fire marshal while adding a second fire marshal

Utica — The Utica Common Council debated and then defeated an ordinance on Sept. 3 that would have eliminated the chief fire marshal position and increased the number of fire marshals from one to two.

Council members, the fire department and city staff spent more than an hour arguing the operational, training and civil-service implications of the proposed change. Proponents said the measure would put more inspectors “boots on the ground,” while opponents warned it would remove a supervisory title that carries statutory responsibilities and institutional knowledge.

Fire Chief Anderson, who said he became chief in 2019, presented the administrative case for the change. “We could run that office with the assistant fire chief being in charge of that office,” he said, adding that creating a second…