Scott County Fire Department leaders told the fiscal court May 2 that adding a dedicated fire marshal would let the department move from primarily reactive work to a proactive approach on inspections, investigations and preplanning.

"Those responsibilities that that position would, oversee are there. The issue... is the time to dedicate to those responsibilities," Chief John Ward told the court, explaining that existing prevention work absorbs time from assistant chiefs and that a dedicated position would enable regular commercial and school inspections, reinspections and follow‑up.

The proposed job was presented at battalion chief pay scale in the draft; staff emphasized the court could consider starting at a lower rate but that the battalion‑chief level was the department’s recommendation. Court members asked for additional data on inspection volumes and comparable positions in other jurisdictions before making a staffing decision.

Separately, the court discussed firefighter staffing levels and apparatus coverage. Fire leadership described a long‑term goal of assigning four personnel to each piece of apparatus at outside stations to reduce unscheduled overtime and provide flexibility for vacancies and injuries; the budget packet included requests for four additional full‑time firefighter FTEs (total cost: $98,050 per FTE, salary plus benefits shown on packet). The court noted the budget committee did not reach consensus on adding the four FTEs this year and left provisionals in place to evaluate overtime trends.

Chiefs also updated the court on apparatus orders: pumpers and a ladder ordered in prior years remain pending with multiyear delivery lead times; the court was reminded that the county previously paid on pieces scheduled for delivery.

Judge and staff also noted what they described as favorable progress on the department’s ISO rating; the judge asked the chief to present details at a future meeting on the impact of the revised rating.

No final personnel hires were approved at the May 2 work session; the court asked for more data on inspection workloads, comparative compensation, and unscheduled overtime prior to deciding on the fire marshal classification or additional permanent FTEs.