Richland council approves lateral hire incentives for fire department

Richland — The Richland City Council on July 1 unanimously adopted Resolution 2025-99 to authorize a lateral recruitment and incentive program for Richland Fire and Emergency Services intended to attract experienced firefighters from comparable departments.

Deputy Chief Randy Ost told the council that laterals typically require far less onboarding than entry-level hires and “bring a valuable combination of experience. They bring in training and readiness.” He said the department’s recruitment team identified four main barriers and proposed four incentives to address them: placing lateral hires at the top pay step (F step) rather than an entry step; reducing the promotion-eligibility wait from five years to three years for laterals; crediting prior service so lateral hires begin vacation accrual consistent with their years in service rather than at entry-level accrual rates; and, in some cases, reimbursing outstanding paramedic-program repayment obligations to a lateral’s prior employer.

The resolution defines a lateral firefighter as a full-time professional firefighter or EMT from a similar department with a minimum of three consecutive years of service and successful completion of probation at the sending agency. Ost said laterals typically need six to eight weeks to be onboarded compared with five to six months for entry-level academy graduates.

Council members asked about competition with neighboring departments and internal equity. Council Member Jones expressed concern about “poaching” and whether nearby agencies would see Richland as going after their best officers. Ost and City Manager Onington responded that many neighboring agencies already run lateral programs and that Richland has fallen behind market parity on incentives. Council Member Witten asked why the promotion-eligibility period was set at three years rather than two; Ost said three years aligns with the city’s on-the-job training and promotional preparation and helps ensure organizational fit and equity with existing staff. Council Member Jones asked whether a future employee-referral incentive was planned; Ost said staff would consider it in the future but it is not part of the current resolution.

Council moved and seconded the resolution and approved it by voice vote; no roll-call votes were recorded for this item in the transcript. The meeting record shows the motion passed with no opposition.

The council directed staff to implement the program as described and said it would evaluate results after the initial period to determine whether adjustments are needed.

Copies of Resolution 2025-99 and the staff report were referenced in council materials but specific dollar figures for wage-step differentials or the number of anticipated lateral hires were not specified in the public discussion.