Fire Department leaders presented a proposal to the Scott County Fiscal Court on Aug. 1 to standardize company-officer titles so that every company officer would hold the same rank rather than maintaining separate "captain" and "lieutenant" company-officer ranks.

Chief John Ward (introduced as "Chief Ward") said the proposal is not intended to add supervisors; rather, it would harmonize titles among on-duty company officers so that each truck's company officer holds the same rank. "We're not wanting to add any additional company officers," Ward said. "Basically, what this request is is... instead of having a company officer be a captain rank and one company officer be a lieutenant rank, is to have them all the same rank."

The proposal prompted questions about pay parity and opportunities for promotion. Court members and chiefs discussed approaches that would avoid reducing pay for current captains while addressing perceived fairness if all company officers ultimately had the same title. Chiefs suggested limited compensation options tied to eligibility criteria for temporary step-up duties (for example, writing up as the shift supervisory back-up), citing training and ride-time requirements as prerequisites.

Why it matters: The reclassification would affect job titles and possibly compensation parity among front-line supervisors. Court members asked for clarification on the implementation approach, including an attrition-based pathway (keeping current captains' pay until they retire and then standardizing titles) and whether temporary duties would require separate pay when personnel serve as the battalion chief designee.

No vote or final decision occurred. Court members asked staff and chiefs to provide clearer language and options, and to answer operational questions (for example, how timekeeping would treat temporary duty assignments).

Ending: The chiefs agreed to provide follow-up materials and answer clarifying questions; the court did not adopt changes at the Aug. 1 meeting.