Administration plan: Modernizing Gadsden Fire Department

Donna Thornton, The Gadsden Times
·6 min read
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Gadsden Mayor Craig Ford's administration has begun steps aimed at modernizing the Gadsden Fire Department to better serve the city's residents and better compensate the firefighters who work in the department.

The plan maps out the "repurposing" of one fire station and replacement of two others.

"As the City of Gadsden’s population has consistently declined over the past several decades, it has not soconsistently modified our expenditures on services accordingly," Ford said in a news release.

The restructuring will make it possible to accomplish several administrative goals, according to the release, including:

  • Right-sizing public services to the population and demand

  • Decreasing the mounting pressure for recruitment of unfilled vacancies

  • Free up finances spent on facilities and utilities for upgraded equipment and gear

  • Increase the straight time pay of fire personnel to alleviate dependence on overtime pay

  • Decrease the pressure for use of overtime shifts to cover vacant personnel slots

  • Allow the Gadsden Fire Department to host recruit schools instead of relying on those hosted in other communities, possibly creating a revenue source

  • Fix "once and for all" the long-standing discrepancies and confusion that have come from the city's pay plan and related policies for Gadsden fire personnel

"As with any change, there will be some consternation, and I understand that," Ford said. "However, I believe these changes will lead to long-term improvements.

"From here, my administration expects to find ways to increase revenue streams for the Gadsden Fire Department," the mayor contended, "such that those personnel who choose to build a career with GFD will be proud to say they serve this city and will know they are supported and appreciated by its citizens and leadership."

Compensating

Effective Tuesday, the administration made the following changes related to fire personnel pay:

  • Provide a 2- to 4-step adjustment for firefighter drivers to reflect a similar percentage increase to firefighters as expected for Fiscal Year 2023. Increase the basis for acting pay when firefighters act as drivers to ensure that pay meets a minimum of 10% for the acting shift.

  • Ensure straight-time pay for any shift worked is paid during that pay period regardless of whether it is overtime. If overtime, the additional 50% will be provided at the end of the 28-day cycle. This will begin with the next 28-day cycle which starts Jan. 20, 2023

Reorganizing

The administration said Fire Station 2, located at the Northeast Alabama Regional Airport, will be repurposed as the GFD Training and Fire Prevention Center. The airport station has the lowest call volume of any of the GFD's stations, and in recent years, when short-staffing required closing a station, Station 2 has often been the one closed.

The station will be unmanned; reserve apparatuses will be housed there "for rare and potential use in response to structure fires on airport property" or for assisting with incidents citywide if needed. An assistant training officer will be added for support at the new training center.

The change will not impact the city's ISO rating, according to Ford.

The Fire Prevention Office in East Gadsden will be closed, with the fire marshal and the assistant fire marshal's office relocating to the training facility. The old fire training tower will be demolished, according to the administration's plan, and if the cost is not prohibitive, the existing metal building will be relocated to the training facility at the airport.

Brett Johnson, the mayor's chief of staff, said Station 2 already has a burn building, a fire tower, and classroom space — all elements that would be needed should the new training center become host to other fire departments to train personnel.

The remaining manned stations and associated trucks/gear will be renamed to the following station numbers, and the associated neighborhood/region served will be added to the website and to signage on the front of the building, GoogleMaps locations/etc:

  • Station 1 — Central/Downtown

  • Station 2 — Gadsden Fire Training and Prevention Center

  • Station 3 — East Gadsden (formerly Station 9)

  • Station 4 — Alabama City

  • Station 5 — Noccalula Falls

  • Station 6 — North Gadsden

  • Station 7 — Walnut Park

  • Station 8 — Country Club

Further, Ford said the city will immediately begin construction plans for new Station 8 in Country Club and Station 5 at Noccalula Falls. Johnson said the city already owns property for Station 5 and is looking for a location for the Country Club station.

Restructuring

A committee will be established immediately to begin work to restructure the City of Gadsden Personnel Handbooks and Pay Plan, or step schedule, effective Oct. 1, 2023, to simplify and modernize he structure of pay and benefits for city employees. The committee will address personnel handbooks by March 2 and by June 1, it will address the pay plan.

The committee will consider reducing the steps on the pay plan; creating automatic step movement; adding incentive pay for higher learning; clarifying the terms of existing incentive pay and variations to step placement in writing on the step plan; and review the level of competitiveness for all positions with the current and future job market.

Limits on overtime will be removed to reduce instances of daily station/truck closures until further notice.

Reasoning

Ford's office provided numbers to support the changes being made in the fire department:\

● Gadsden currently has about 3.133 firefighters per 1,000 residents. The median for citiesits size in the South is 1.51, according to the 2020 National Fire Protection Association report.● Gadsden currently has about 0.24 stations per 1,000 residents. The median for cities itssize is 0.09, according to the NFPT report.● In 2021, Station 2, at the airport, made only 31 total emergency responses (calls). In 2022, Station 2has made about 150 emergency responses. The next lowest station emergency responsevolume was Station 8, in the Country Club area, which made 618 calls in 2021 and 550 in 2022.● In Fiscal Year 2022, the City of Gadsden budgeted $650,000 in overtime for the Gadsden FireDepartment and spent more than $950,000 to keep all stations and trucks open.● A review of five Alabama cities of similar population to Gadsden (equal or larger) found thatcities its size have no more than five fire stations and no more than 89 employees (an average of 72employees). All such cities had an ISO rating of 1 or 2. Gadsden currently has 8 stations and 114budgeted positions with an ISO rating of 2.● Presently, the City of Gadsden’s fire tax revenue is not sufficient to cover the operational(facility/equipment) costs of the Gadsden Fire Department. Last year’s fire tax generated $1.16 millionand this year’s operational fire department budget is $1.39 million.

Savings

By closing the fire prevention facility in East Gadsden and repurposing Station 2 at the airport as a training center, the mayor's office projects an estimated $500,000 will be saved each year.

The step adjustment for GFD drivers is projected to cost less than $100,000 a year, the mayor's office said, netting potential savings of $400,000 annually.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Gadsden looks at population changes in reorganizing fire department