Franklin City fire and public-safety staff press personnel committee on insurance, training and staffing shortages

Representatives from Franklin City’s fire department and firefighters’ union told the City Personnel Committee that employees and retirees are struggling with insurance costs, limited education reimbursement, and staffing shortfalls that are stretching operations.

Brad, a fire department representative, and Lieutenant Pulaski, president of the firefighters’ union, addressed the committee at its meeting and listed ideas staff want the city to consider, including an insurance opt‑out or buyout, an “employee plus one” coverage option, an expanded education reimbursement pool, and options to let long‑tenured employees retire earlier with continued benefits. "I was told... the premiums in the emails that went out... were essentially made up numbers," Brad said, describing staff confusion over how premium figures were calculated.

Kelly Hirsch, the city’s director of administration, told the committee the premiums are calculated from actual claims and administrative costs tracked by finance and divided across policyholders. "Finance keeps track of all of our claims costs, all of our admin costs," Hirsch said, explaining the method the city uses to allocate costs across active employees and retirees.

Fire department leaders said retirees who worked 25–30 years are paying roughly $900 to $1,000 a month and are considering alternatives such as marketplace plans because they cannot afford city coverage. As an example of plan costs provided in committee discussion, staff cited a high‑deductible family plan at about $2,100 per month and a PPO family plan around $2,300 per month; committee members and staff noted those were illustrative figures used by employees when discussing buyout options.

Union leaders sought consideration of an "employee plus one" enrollment tier rather than only single or full family coverage, and they asked the city to evaluate brokers or alternate plans to improve affordability. They also asked the committee to consider permitting employees who complete 25 years of service to retire up to three years earlier with more flexible access to benefits, noting a small number of employees might use that option.

On education reimbursement, fire representatives said the current city pool is $5,000 per year and is limited to roughly $1,000 per person (effectively five employees at the maximum), and they urged expansion. They pointed to Greenfield’s program, which allows up to $2,000 per person annually, as a local comparator.

Staff described operational impacts tied to staffing. The fire department said it has roughly 50 personnel, about 42 of whom are in the bargaining unit, and averages about 14 calls a day across three stations; call durations range from roughly 30 minutes to two hours. Committee members heard that the department is often unable to cover back‑to‑back calls without mutual aid, and one public‑works resignation was highlighted as an example of market pressures: a light equipment operator resigned after accepting a job paying $45 an hour at We Energies, compared with roughly $30 an hour locally.

Committee members and staff discussed training bottlenecks for commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs), noting recent state training changes and long waiting lists for classes and that the city currently has three open CDL‑required positions. Speakers suggested recruiting employees and supporting CDL training but noted costs and multi‑month waits at local technical schools.

Committee members did not make formal policy changes at the meeting but asked staff to continue open conversations with departments and to bring back options and data at a future meeting.

Ending

Committee members thanked the presenters for the candid briefing and said the information would inform upcoming personnel and budget discussions. Staff will provide more detailed breakdowns of enrollment and retiree counts and consider whether brokered options or benefit design changes are feasible within budget constraints.