Northwood City Council has decided it wants the fire chief position to be full-time, reversing its previous support that the position be part time.

Council voted 6-1 to advertise for a full time fire chief at a May 26 meeting.

The Safety Committee is now recommending that the position be full-time, according to Councilman Randy Kozina, a member of the Safety Committee.

Voting in favor were Councilmen Dave Gallaher, Connie Hughes, Mike Myers, Ed Schimmel, Dean Edwards and Kozina. Councilman James Barton was opposed.

Mayor Mark Stoner said, after the vote, he was not opposed to advertising for a full-time fire chief but the city would need to find the money for the position “somewhere, somehow.”

“I am not opposed to this but you guys need to be aware that is $88,000 we would have to come up with,” Stoner said. “There could be more unpopular decisions to be made. There are potentially some unsatisfactory cuts that might have to be made if the revenue stream does not continue to grow.”

Gallaher said the city should have a full-time fire chief.

“As a city, we have to decide what is best for the city and then figure out how we are going to pay for it rather than trying to just get by on what we may or may not be able to afford,” he said. “If we make a decision that is best for the city, then we have to find the money to pay for it.”

Dr. David Miramontes, Northwood’s EMS medical director since 2001, wrote a letter to Stoner on April 16 in which he made 14 recommendations for adequate staffing, supervision and deployment of resources in the fire department. Among the recommendations was to hire a full-time chief.

The letter was written following the death of resident Tim Mix, who had waited 28 minutes for a rescue squad to arrive at his home on Parc Rue after his wife called 9-1-1 three times on the morning of March 3. Mix died two days later in Mercy St. Vincent’s Medical Center after tests showed he had brain damage from a lack of oxygen.

Council has implemented several of Miramontes’ recommendations, including: training city employees in CPR and in the use of the AED; lifting a hiring freeze for firefighter-EMTs; allocating $20,000 for adequate training of new recruits and training of existing members to the paramedic level over the next 18 months; and soft-billing homeowner insurance companies for structure fire responses, automobile insurance for motor vehicle response, and responsible parties for hazardous material incident response.

Council agreed to bring back a two member crew, one of which would be an EMT or paramedic, during the day. Stoner had cut the crew last year as part of a budget cutting move.

Council had previously decided to ignore Miramontes‘ recommendation to hire a full-time fire chief who is a firefighter level II, a certified paramedic and fire inspector.

Miramontes told The Press last week that council made the right decision.

“I am pleased that Council showed such a strong commitment to improve the fire department operations with a dedicated full-time chief,” Miramontes said. “It is important to have a strong leader to improve morale, promote recruitment, enhance training and provide oversight to the EMS mission.”

Miramontes said the city would be able to attract even more qualified candidates for a full-time position.

“A full-time chief will have the adequate time resources to provide for enhanced mission readiness, education and medical response during the day,” he said.

Former full-time Fire Chief Tim Romstadt resigned in April following the Mix incident. Stoner then hired him, at Romstadt’s request, as the part-time deputy fire chief. Romstadt had recommended to the Safety Committee that his former position be part-time.

Schimmel, chairman of the Safety Committee, had supported Romstadt’s recommendation. After the meeting, he said he was now voting in favor of a full-time fire chief position because City Administrator Dennis Recker recommended to the Safety Committee that the position be full-time.

“The city administrator changed his recommendation from a part-time chief to a full-time chief. I followed his recommendation,” Schimmel said.

Recker, though, said after the meeting that he has changed his mind and that the fire chief position should be part-time.

Just because the city will advertise for a full-time chief doesn’t necessarily mean the city will hire a full-time chief, Recker said after the meeting. He said he made his recommendation for a full-time fire chief to the Safety Committee prior to looking over the resumes the city has received for a part-time position.

“The normal scenario is that a city of our size wants a full-time chief,” Recker said. “When we look at the impact on the budget and then look at the experience and qualifications of both internal and external candidates for the part-time position, we think the department can be run with a part-time chief. We want to test that scenario.”

Recker said hiring a full-time chief would cost the city approximately $90,000 including benefits. Hiring a part-time chief would save the city $60,000.

“I have had the opportunity to look at the internal and external candidates for the part-time position,” Recker said, adding he will recommend that council hire a part-time chief at the next council meeting. “A part-timer could build a supporting staff with other senior leaders in the department. If everybody in the department takes a bit of the burden, they can fulfill the same amount of work as a full-time chief can. If you put four to five professionals together, you can handle a lot of work volume. We can do a lot with $60,000 in other areas of the fire department. I am sure we are heading in the right direction by taking advantage of the experience and expertise of some of the part-time candidates. We owe it to the city to try to function with a part-time chief.”

Council also approved an ordinance authorizing compensation for Romstadt as deputy chief. He will be paid $18 per hour, for up to 25 hours per week.

Recker told The Press that Romstadt’s position is not permanent.

“He was reassigned on a temporary basis,” said Recker. “The deputy chief position will remain on the manifest of positions and it will be the decision of the new fire chief if he wants to fill it and, if so, by whom.”

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