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Council President Discusses Falls City Fire Dept. Driver Position

By John Nixon

06/18/2014

Falls City Fire Truck

(KLZA)-- Monday night Falls City Council members voted 7-0 to rescind a May decision to hire someone to fill the second Fire Department Driver position that came open due to a retirement.

Council President Jerry Oliver said he feels the Council did not thoroughly research the situation prior to voting in May. After hearing some other alternatives the vote to rescind the previous action was approved.

Fire Chief Ken Simpson has estimated response time to get the fire to increase from 3-5 minutes with a driver at the fire station to 20 minutes or more if the fire call goes out while the station is unmanned. Oliver says he does not feel it will take that long for the firemen to respond. He does not feel that time frame is reasonable.

Chief Simpson said Monday night he was disappointed the Council felt the budget was more important than safety. Oliver says that is untrue. He says the Council has safety is at the forefront and he does not believe the safety will diminish.

City Administrator Gary Jorn says a paid fire driver is paid an annual salary of $43,876. Jorn said as the budget gets tighter, the City needs to take a look at how some services can be handled by other groups such as the volunteer firemen.

Councilman Oliver said there are other possibilities the Council needs to consider before a final decision is made.

The conversation concerning personnel was held in closed session Monday night so the three possibilities are not publicly known at this time. During the June 2nd City Council meeting the possibility of creating a position to serve as a part-time police officer / part-time fire driver, who would handle nuisance complaints and fill in police shifts was discussed.

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