Agenda Item Name:
Title
Request additional (1.0 FTE) Assistant Chief position for the Fire Rescue Department
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Presenter:
Harold Theus, 352-384-3101
Description:
Alachua County Fire Rescue is requesting the addition of an Assistant Chief. This will be the third Assistant Chief in the Department. The last Assistant Chief was added nearly 15 years ago when line personnel totaled 178 FTE’s. Today, the Operations Section is divided into an EMS Division and a Professional Standards Division. Both divisions are supervised by an Assistant Chief. At this time, the Deputy Chief leads all the Operations Section, including the two Assistant Chiefs and the Fire Division which contains 7 District Chiefs. As line personnel has grown from 178 to 279, the workload has become unmanageable. The additional Assistant Chief would supervise the Fire Division of the Operations Sections.
The position is a non-bargaining, exempt classification. The current job description for Fire Rescue Assistant Chief provides the latitude for all Assistant Chiefs to be interchangeable.
If approved, the Department plans to advertise the vacancy in January with a goal to fill by February 28, 2022.
Recommended Action:
Recommended Action
Approve the recommended action of adding an Assistant Chief 1.0 FTE to Fire Rescue and approve the budget amendment to transfer $192,980.00 from MSBU Fire Reserves.
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Prior Board Motions:
Five Year Final Plan Presentation April 14, 2020-No Board action was requested.
Fiscal Consideration:
Fiscal Consideration
Staff recommends transferring $192,980.00 from MSBU-Fire Reserves to cover personal services (011.54.5480.522.various) and operating (011.54.5480.522.various) for the additional Assistant Chief 1.0 FTE beginning February 28, 2022 through September 30, 2022. This transfer would reduce the MSBU-Reserves balance from $5,088,201 to $4,895,221. This balance exceeds the amount required in the financial policies and will not require reimbursement. The recurring costs estimated at $187,987.00 for the position will be included in the continuation budget for future years.
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Strategic Guide:
All Other Mandatory and Discretionary Services
Background:
On April 14th, 2020, Fire Chief Harold Theus presented Fire Rescue’s 5 year financial plan to the Board of County Commissioners. In that plan, recommendations were made to address the increasing service delivery demands. The plan listed recommendations and cost impacts for each upcoming fiscal year. The recommendation for FY22 included the addition of Three (3) District Chief FTE’s at a cost of $456,877.00. The recommendation for FY23 included the addition of an Assistant Chief. As the FY22 budget process developed, the County expressed concerns over funding the request. The County Manager agreed to fund the FY23 request of an Assistant Chief a year earlier pending budgetary and BoCC approval.