Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Fire Department Budget Overtime topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Fire Committee minutes flag staffing, overtime and equipment needs amid budget shortfalls
Summary
Minutes from the Fire Committee’s Nov. 21, 2025 special meeting record a departmental review in which Fire Chief Robert Stetson cited concerns about part-time staffing, overtime spending, vehicle maintenance, outstanding bills and training needs; attached budget documents show large year-to-date gaps and overtime usage through Nov. 13, 2025.
The Fire Committee’s special meeting materials for Nov. 21, 2025 include a departmental review by Fire Chief Robert Stetson that identified staffing pressures, overtime usage, vehicle maintenance needs, unpaid bills and training priorities.
The minutes state Chief Stetson focused on five areas: part-time employees and overtime, vehicle maintenance, outstanding bills, training and the department’s burn building. The packet included attachments with a budget spreadsheet and an overtime payroll detail that together show fiscal strain on the department.
The attached budget excerpt lists YTD Fire expenditures of $315,377 against a full FY budget of $1,115,456, a negative variance of roughly 71.7% of the budgeted level; the budget document is labeled as “not subjected to an audit or review.” A separate overtime ledger dated through Nov. 13, 2025 lists overtime payments from July through November that sum to $18,200.40; the overtime line shows a full-year budget of $44,535.
The minutes also include older, attached minutes from an April 10, 2023 special meeting in which Chief Stetson presented a draft FY budget that proposed 20% raises and a new training facility. In those April minutes, Stetson said the “COG truck” would be ready by Dec. 5 (2023 in that attachment) and that the draft budget included $118,000 for fittings for the new truck. The April minutes record a motion to allow Maurice Eaddy to work on Fire Department vehicles while on duty; that motion was seconded and noted for presentation to the next full Council meeting.
The Nov. 21, 2025 minutes record routine procedural items: Chairman Luke Gasque announced that local media had been notified pursuant to the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act, and the meeting was adjourned after a motion by Council Member Luke Gasque and a second from Council Member Eddie Kitchen. The minutes were attested by City Clerk Felicia Sawyer-Norton.
The packet attachments provide the principal numerical detail available in the minutes: the Fire fund YTD and full FY budget rows, and the overtime ledger showing cumulative overtime paid to date. The documents do not record a formal vote on any policy, nor do the Nov. 21 minutes record a decision to change staffing levels, salaries, or procurement; they reflect a departmental briefing and historical budget proposals included as attachments.
What happens next: the minutes do not list a follow-up motion directing staff to take a specific action; the April 2023 motion about Maurice Eaddy was recorded as to be presented to the Council but not finalized in these materials.
