City evaluates number of fire truck drivers

The city of Fairfield?s personnel committee met March 1 to discuss the city?s plans about hiring a full-time driver for the Fairfield Fire department.

This comes after one of three drivers resigned from the position in November.

Fairfield City Councilor Michael Halley said it?s the city?s unofficial policy to evaluate whether a position needs to be filled after a resignation, or if the duties of that individual could be shared by others in the department.

Halley said the city is trying to find ways to save taxpayers? money by lowering property taxes, which can only be achieved by reducing expenses of city staff or services.

?The council has been hearing from citizens for many years asking for property tax relief,? he said.

Halley said the meeting was attended by Fairfield Fire Department staff including Fire Chief Scott Vaughan.

Committee members asked Vaughan about the possibility of a different staffing model, where the station would have two full-time drivers supplemented by part-time drivers.

Halley said fire department personnel did not agree with the idea, opting instead to keep three full-time drivers. He said all city departments, including parks and rec, and the library had seen recent budget cuts, but that none of the departments wanted to see any further budget cuts.

?If another department isn?t willing to change their services in some way, we have to keep the property taxes higher,? Halley said. ?Nobody is volunteering to cut hours. What do you do? It?s a tricky one.?

Halley said that, in the near future, the city planned to hire an outside assessment company to rate all of the 66 full-time positions to see what was needed and where things could be tightened up.

?They are going to see if any repetitive work is being done ? to make sure tax money is being used as efficiently as possible,? he said.

The city recently hired a full-time driver for the fire department, but Halley said one of the drivers plans to retire this year.

?Between now and that retirement, we?re going to be seeing what models could work,? he said, adding that the fire department isn?t being singled out.

?In any of the departments where someone had made the intention that they were leaving, we would be doing this process,? Halley said.