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Fire chief asks council to reintroduce ordinance converting three vacant EMO slots to engineer positions
Summary
Fire Chief Barb Huber told council the department ran roughly 26,000 calls last year and is reintroducing an ordinance to convert three vacant EMO positions to engineer positions to improve promotion pipelines and recruitment; staff said the change affects vacant positions and is not a demotion of sitting personnel.
Fire Chief Barb Huber and Human Resources Director Bella Trujillo reported to City Council on fire department staffing levels, call volumes and a proposed ordinance change to better align promotional incentives with recruitment.
Chief Huber said the department operates 11 stations with three shifts and runs about 26,000 calls annually; staff characterized roughly 17,000 as medical calls and more than 2,000 as ALS (advanced life support) calls. The chief said recruitment patterns show higher applicant interest for engineer positions than for EMO positions, and she asked council to reconsider an ordinance that would convert three currently vacant EMO positions to engineer positions.
Chief Huber emphasized the conversion would apply only to vacant posts and would not reduce the number of promoted positions overall or constitute a demotion. She said changing the posted requirements would create more promotion opportunities into firefighter vacancies and improve staffing cadence. The chief added that historically the department promotes from the EMO position to captain and that roughly 64% of recent captains had come from the EMO pipeline.
Councilors asked clarifying operational questions. Councilor Dante sought which stations would be affected; staff said station 10 is likely given call volumes and that station 10 had approximately 160 total calls last year with roughly four ALS calls. Councilor Boston noted union opposition and asked about impacts to higher‑level promoted positions and salary differences; the chief and staff responded that the change aims to improve fill rates without reducing service.
Chief Huber said the ordinance is being resubmitted for council reconsideration and that staff would accept questions and return as needed; no formal council vote occurred during the work session.
