If there’s going to be a “charm” for the restoration of designations that came with promotions within the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, it will have to be “the third time.”
And that time must come before the City Council adopts the 2015-16 budget by the end of the month.
Based on the budget submitted by the department, district chief positions to serve as health and safety officers were included.
When the Finance Committee on Aug. 28 reviewed the budget, it unanimously approved demotions, elimination of some positions and reclassifications that would reduce the salaries of 14 people.
The adjustment trimmed $330,779 from the department’s $210.7 million budget.
On Sept. 1, the final day of budget hearings, a motion to reconsider the reduction was defeated, leaving the full council vote as the last resort for restoration of the district chief ranks.
The department declined to comment for this story, citing its policy of not discussing budgetary deliberations until the process concludes.
The International Association of Firefighters Local 122 doesn’t follow that policy.
Union President Randy Wyse said the concept of having personnel serve as safety officers began in 1986 and the position was adopted as full time in 2002.
The safety officers perform tasks connected to job-related injuries including patient tracking and resolution of issues involving exposure to communicable diseases and hazardous materials.
Safety officers work with the city risk managers on workers’ compensation cases and manage fire and rescue personnel who are limited to light duty due to injury, he said.
During the budget process in 2012, the positions were eliminated. The department and the union have since advocated each year for restoration.
After a meeting in January with former Mayor Alvin Brown to again make the case for the safety officer positions, the district chiefs were back on the roster in February, Wyse said.
The chiefs made it into Mayor Lenny Curry’s proposed budget, but the Finance Committee determined the tasks could be performed by other personnel in lower-paid ranks as they had been from 2012 until February.
The committee devoted the $330,000 saved to other items in the budget sent to council.
The sticking point for District 11 council member Danny Becton is the department could provide no evidence that having the personnel designated as district chiefs achieved any reduction in operating cost by avoiding accident and injury claims.
“There’s no tangible evidence of savings,” he said during the hearing. “We need to see return on investment if the district chief positions are restored.”
Council members have until noon Sept. 21 to file amendments to the budget approved by the committee. Amendments will be debated by the full council before the budget is approved on or before Sept. 30.
Wyse is actively lobbying council members to support the expenditure for the district chief safety officer ranks, so there may well be another discussion of restoring the positions and approving the payroll.
“Three-hundred-thousand dollars is well worth the safety of firefighters,” he said.
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