10. Staff Report-change of Fire Chief positions from volunteer to part-time
Staff Report
Date of Meeting: April 4, 2018
To: City Council
From: Neil Soltis, Administrator
Re: Changing the Fire Chief position from volunteer to part-time
Background: The following are areas that should be discussed with regard to the budgeted
change of the position from Volunteer to Part-time. Any changes will be incorporated in a
revised job description, a revision to the ordinance relating to the Scandia Fire & Rescue
Department, and the resolution setting the compensation. These could be presented for
approval by the Council at the April 17 meeting.
Need clarity as to the status of the Chief since the position is currently a 4 -year appointment by
the Council based on the recommendation of the members of the Department.
Need clarity as to wages and work schedule.
• What will be the hours of part-time work?
• What happens is a run occurs during part-time hours?
What work is being performed by officers that should be in the new job description?
What changes should be made to the officer job descriptions
Need to update the listing of essential duties. A number of the current are saying the same
thing. Additional duties could include:
• Update of Fire Prevention Code Regulations
• Public Education on Fire Prevention and Fire Safety
• Firefighter Recruitment and retention plan
• Update Department policies and incorporate into City’s personnel policies
• Evaluation of service delivery options (ex. - EMS)
• Investigate options to increase revenues (charges for service, grants)
• Emergency Manager – develops and maintains Emergency Operations Plan and
Continuity of Operations Plan, conducts training exercises
• Equipment Maintenance and Inspections
• Facility maintenance and inspections
• Departmental purchasing
• Comply with Minnesota Data Practices Act.
• Performs Fire Inspections
• Conducts Fire Prevention programs and Public Fire Safety programs.
• Fire Prevention Code enforcement, evaluation, and training
• Prepares fire plans for all commercial, industrial, institutional and other similar type
buildings and inspects annually
• Coordination delivery of ambulance services
• Works to maintain / improve ISO rating
Going to the future should update the job qualifications to include the following and what else?
• Four (4) years Fire supervisory experience. Fire service supervision preferred.
• First Responder Certified, EMT preferred Certified
• NIMS training up to ICS-300 within 1 year of appointment
• Fire Inspector Certified within 1 year of appointment
• Public Fire Safety Education Training – x hours / year
What duties and responsibilities that are in the job description are not being done now. There
should be a measurable created for these.
The Council discussed having measures / performance criteria for job performance. These
could include:
• # of firefighters / % of authorized
• % of firefighters attending 90% of training events (90% is arbitrary but should set a
standards)
• Average response to Daytime callouts? Evening callouts?
• # Fire Inspections completed / % of total
• # of Fire Prevention programs conducted
• # of Public Fire Safety programs conducted
• # of facilities requiring pre-planning
• % of pre-plans completed
• # of pre-planning inspections this year/ % of total
• Annual update of Emergency Operations Plan
• Annual update of Continuity of Operations Plan
• # of Emergency Management exercises