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Albuquerque council reconfirms Fire Chief Emily Jaramillo after heated debate over staffing and labor talks
Summary
After hours of public comment and council questioning about staffing, an ALS expansion pilot and strained relations with IAFF Local 244, the Albuquerque City Council voted to reconfirm Fire Chief Emily Jaramillo. Speakers on both sides urged compromise and more budget support for staffing.
The Albuquerque City Council voted to reconfirm Fire Chief Emily Jaramillo on Jan. 20 after an extended hearing that exposed tensions between the fire department and the IAFF Local 244 union over recent operational changes and working conditions.
Supporters, including rank‑and‑file firefighters and neighborhood leaders, told the council Jaramillo has rebuilt relationships across the department and improved service delivery. Opponents — led by union speakers and some rank‑and‑file members — said recent changes to emergency medical staffing and what they called “working‑condition” changes should have been negotiated through collective bargaining.
Jaramillo, speaking to the council, described a data‑driven rollout of an ALS expansion pilot that added paramedic coverage at three stations and said a departmental working group — including labor representatives — is collecting operational and patient‑outcome data. She told the council she is “committed to continuing to meet monthly with labor” and to use the working‑group findings to guide future decisions.
Union leaders said members have suffered forced overtime, more frequent “atypical” staffing assignments and reduced morale. IAFF Local 244 leadership reported an internal survey of roughly 220 respondents showing 67% opposed confirmation; the union president told council members the question was not about Jaramillo’s character but about how major working‑condition changes were implemented.
Several councilors pressed Jaramillo on specifics: which stations were affected by the pilot, how cadet and paramedic training is being used to backfill staffing, and whether intermediate EMS training for cadets can relieve pressure on overtime. Jaramillo said the department has 25 personnel in paramedic training and is piloting an in‑house intermediate EMT program to expand ALS capacity without pulling additional staff from front‑line operations.
The debate threaded through budget concerns: councilors and the chief acknowledged overtime and vacancy pressures — the chief described an operating budget and supplemental 'fire fund' revenue sources and said overtime is tracked separately from base staffing lines. Multiple councilors urged the mayor’s office to align budget priorities with operational needs.
After the discussion, the council voted to confirm Chief Jaramillo by voice/hand vote; council minutes record the confirmation as passing unanimously. Several council members closed by urging renewed labor‑management collaboration and a clear, funded plan for staffing and overtime relief.
The council signaled that next steps include continuing labor‑management meetings, sharing working‑group data with both labor and the council, and coordinating budget requests to address persistent overtime and vacancy issues.
