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Fire chief says 'shift‑short' overtime reflects understaffing; urges investment in hires and fleet maintenance

Saratoga Springs City Council · October 30, 2025
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Fire Chief Joe Dolan presented a data‑driven analysis showing that 73% of fire overtime is 'shift‑short' and that the department functions below the staffing needed to meet a 17‑person minimum without routine overtime. Chief Dolan urged council to consider hiring, assignments for maintenance, and reimbursements that offset some overtime.

Joe Dolan, fire chief for Saratoga Springs, presented the fire department's budget needs at the workshop, focusing on EMS supplies, fleet maintenance, overtime and the interdependence of fire prevention and code enforcement.

Dolan said a large share of fire overtime is ‘‘shift‑short’’ overtime used daily to cover core operations; he calculated that shift‑short overtime represented about 73% of the…

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