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 fire-marshal slot would allow marshals “to split the duties” and provide “more redundancy when one of them isn't available.” Anderson also said additional marshals would help the city meet fire-safety inspection and investigative training requirements.

Several council members and residents pushed back. Council Member Joseph Beitar expressed concerns about losing the chief fire marshal’s authority for unsafe-building enforcement and nuisance abatements, saying he did not see how “eliminating that position helps the city” given the responsibilities in the city code. Council Member Mark Williamson highlighted the cost trade-offs discussed in the meeting, noting council members cited salary and benefit differences during debate.

The discussion also reviewed civil-service testing history and training timelines. Speakers noted a civil-service exam in October 2023 produced a short list of candidates, and that qualifying as a certified fire marshal generally requires extensive classroom and field training; one speaker cited roughly 600 hours of training and additional investigation time required for fire-investigator credentials. Participants said the chief fire marshal rank has in past decades carried promotion and supervisory prerequisites that differed from the fire marshal rank.

Codes and public-safety officials told the council that current operations and knowledge retained by staff — including part-time consulting from a recently retired chief fire marshal — would continue regardless of titles. Supporters argued the proposed change would shift resources toward inspections; opponents said it risked eroding regulatory authority and institutional oversight.

At the end of the meeting the council voted on the ordinance introduced from committee. The motion to adopt the ordinance failed; the clerk recorded a majority but not the required disposition and the ordinance did not take effect.

Council members who asked for further review asked that the administration and the civil-service office provide additional, written clarifications on: (1) the precise civil-service qualifications for each title, (2) the salary and benefit savings estimates, and (3) which statutory enforcement powers (for example, condemnation or emergency orders) would be delegated and in what written form, if the title change were enacted. The council asked staff to bring that information back before pursuing structural changes again.