The Chelsea Area Fire Authority (CAFA) Board voted unanimously on Oct. 25 to hire two additional firefighters, which will mean that there will be three full-time firefighters on duty 24-7 each shift in the near future.
Previously, CAFA had nine full-time firefighters thanks to a SAFER grant.
Currently, there are two shifts of three firefighters and one shift of two firefighters on duty at the two CAFA fire houses.
The board voted to increase the total number to nine firefighters through the end of the year and to budget for them in 2017.
The board is just beginning both budget deliberations and union contract negotiations and is expected to set a work session date in the next two weeks to talk about the about $1.435 million operating budget.
Board Chairman Tom Osborne said that by his calculations, CAFA was about $63,000 under budget for this year due to “labor cost cutting,” and he brought forth the idea of including an additional full-time firefighter to bring the staff up to nine members.
Interim Fire Chief John Ichesco said he expected that evaluations of both the firefighters’ and officer candidates were expected to be completed this week.
CAFA Board member Peter Feeney said that 18 candidates from both inside and outside the state had applied for the fire chief’s position and that the selection committee planned to meet last night (Wednesday) to go through the applications.
The board asked that the selection committee scale down the number to the three best candidates and those candidates will go to the board for further discussion.
Those on the selection committee are Osborne and Feeney, who is serving as the chairman, Greg McKenzie from Lima Township, Sue Koseck from Sylvan Township, Susanne Vanden-Bosch from Chelsea, Thomas Demske from Lyndon Township and Colt White, who is representing the Chelsea firefighters.
In new business, the board voted to accept Ichesco’s recommendation to retire from service and sell CAFA’s 2001 Ford Excursion.
The CAFA board will meet in regular session on Tuesday, Nov. 22 at 7 p.m., in the Chelsea City Council chambers.
Be nice to know what the budgeted cost of hiring two additional permanent employees is. I suspect that it’s way more than the $63,000 “saved” this year. And of course that’s a one-time deal; the costs of the new employees will be borne by the taxpayers long term.
Also, are we to assume that since the Authority is in the black, there will be no need for additional millages this year or next?
Rod Anderson
Chelsea