Maplewood, Missouri — At a May 8 work session, the Maplewood City Council and fire department staff reviewed the fire department’s operations and capital budgets, discussing overtime drivers, equipment-cleaning costs, training spending and a decision to push a major training-tower contract into fiscal year 2026.

Council members and fire staff said overtime has been elevated this year because of staff injuries and deployments of several members to the National Guard. “We’re trying, Amber and I and Pete and Brian Wallace and Lexi are gonna meet to look at it, to see what we can do,” a fire department staff member said, describing plans to review staffing and shift coverage.

The budget discussion matters because the city is balancing ongoing emergency coverage needs with one-time capital purchases and staffing costs. Council members asked whether recently approved personnel changes — including paid time off proposals — would increase overtime, and staff said those policy changes had not yet been adopted and that the net effect on overtime was not certain.

Fire operations: overtime, laundry, insurance
The council pressed fire staff on several line items. Members asked whether a $100 laundry allowance and related turnout-gear cleaning provisions would cover an entire year of needs; staff said most routine cleaning can be done in-house, but items that require professional disinfection would be sent out and the budget keeps a contingency for that.

Council members also queried a higher insurance deductible shown in the draft. Staff clarified the $15,000 deductible described in the packet applies to the fire department and represents the per-department deductible the city has budgeted. “That is the $15,000 deductible that we don't have for our insurance for any kind of wind…,” a staff member said while explaining the change from a prior larger amount that had been budgeted for multiple accidents.

Training and capital items
Council members reviewed a $65,000 training line that staff said covers joint training costs, partial salary support for training participation, required software, and community CPR and first-aid certifications. “That also covers part of the software that we're required to have, CPR cards for community CPR, first aid cards,” a staff member said.

On capital projects, Rick (staff) told the council that the packet shows approvals for contracts on the Central Core Fire Training Tower but that anticipated spending was shifted entirely into FY 2026. “We had expected to spend more money in this fiscal year for that project. It's all been shifted entirely into FY '26,” Rick said. Separately, the water-rescue equipment purchase was identified as an item staff decided could be deferred to the next fiscal year.

Dispatch evaluation
The council also discussed dispatch as a known pain point. Staff said ECDC (the regional emergency communications entity) is setting aside $50,000 in its budget to hire a consultant to evaluate its operations and CAD system, with an assessment expected to start July 1 and take about two months. “We hope to have some action steps for ECDC to take, by October,” staff said. The evaluation was described as not included in Maplewood’s own budget but as a separate ECDC-funded effort.

Future technology and drones
Council members asked about new technologies such as drones and integrated radio/SCBA systems. Fire staff said drones used by the department today could be made available to support incidents if a police drone program moves forward, and that technology integrating radios into self-contained breathing apparatuses (SCBAs) and truck-based repeaters is being tested elsewhere and may be considered in future capital planning.

Next steps
Staff said draft 2 of the overall budget would be distributed in the packet for the next Tuesday work session, with updates to reflect changes requested in the three budget work sessions. The council then moved to adjourn the work session.