Highland Heights fire chief asks committee to pursue FEMA SAFER grant to add full-time staff

Fire Chief Bill Turner told the Legislative & Finance Committee on May 12 that the department’s staffing model needs change and asked the committee to pursue a FEMA SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) grant to fund new hires. Turner said the city’s fire staffing levels have been essentially unchanged since 1989, when the city population was about 6,000, and that “the previous use of PT as staff is no longer working.”

Turner described the grant’s pay support as covering 75% of a hire’s salary in the first year, 75% in the second year and 35% in the third year, and said the grant-funded positions would represent roughly $140,000 annually in the department’s payroll costs as described in the committee packet. He said part-time hiring has not provided reliable coverage and that currently both the chief and the assistant chief respond to calls. Turner said six staffed positions would be ideal — “6 staff is ideal, 5 FF and a LT and with PTO is rarely achieved” — meaning five firefighters plus a lieutenant, and that the city would need to hire and put the grant dollars to use upon receipt.

Turner said he would like the item referred to the Council of the Whole for fuller discussion and next steps. The agenda entry for the committee meeting was submitted by the Legislative and Finance Chair, shown in the packet as “Corden.” No formal motion or vote on pursuing the grant was recorded in the committee’s notes from this meeting.

The committee convened at 7:10 p.m. and adjourned at about 7:29 p.m.; members listed as present appear in the meeting packet. The item will return to the broader council for further consideration according to the committee discussion.