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Staff proposes ordinance change so fire chief, manager can update volunteer fire policies
Summary
Staff said the volunteer fire department policy book has not been updated since 1986 and recommended amending the ordinance to allow more agile policy updates similar to the police department to address safety and operational concerns.
During the workshop, staff and commissioners discussed a decades‑old volunteer fire department policy book that has not been updated since 1986 and which, staff said, ties policy changes to a broad commission vote.
Staff argued that the current ordinance has created safety and procedural problems because the volunteer department’s policies require multiple commission steps to change. To address that, staff proposed rewriting the ordinance so the fire chief, city manager and mayor — mirroring how police policy changes are handled — could update policies and procedures without repeatedly returning to the full commission, a change staff said would be necessary to bring the department into modern compliance.
Commissioners expressed support for moving forward with the ordinance change, acknowledging the volunteer fire department’s historical desire to be insulated from politics but noting that operational realities have changed since 1986. Staff said an outside consultant or firm would likely be needed to redesign policies because the task is extensive.
Next steps: staff will draft ordinance language to align the fire department policy‑change process with the police department’s approach and return to the commission for consideration.
