OLEAN - On Monday, Mayor Linda Witte appointed three new full-time firefighters to the Olean Fire Department.

Mayor Witte’s decision to hire full-time firefighters is the first of its kind in seven years.

Reaction by city aldermen spanned the full spectrum, from approval of the measure to dissatisfaction with it.

For Frank Steffen, D-Ward 7, the new full-time firefighters are a welcomed addition to the fire department’s ranks.

“I think in the long run, (the new firefighters) will be good for the city, but I say that with caution,” Mr. Steffen said. “The Common Council will be looking very carefully to see if there is a significant reduction in overtime costs.”

Jim Finch, R-Ward 5, agreed the new firefighters will benefit the city and the Common Council will be taking a critical look at the impact they will have on overtime costs.

For the better part of the past decade, fire department overtime expenses have been a point of contention for city officials and residents.

In the 2008-09 fiscal year, overtime expenses cost the city approximately $300,000, when the minimum staffing levels of each shift was lowered to seven firefighters. In the current fiscal year, trends in overtime indicated overtime costs would cost more than $200,000. The addition of the new firefighters will have the Olean Fire Department staffed by 35 firefighters - one person short of having the department fully staffed.

Mr. Steffen said the new firefighters will fill three positions in the department that became available this year.

“The money is already in the budget for these positions,” he said. “There should be some savings that should compensate for some of the overtime costs in the budget right now.

“The new firefighters are coming in at a lower salary and are paying a portion of their health insurance,” Mr. Steffen added.

Gary “Casey” Jones, D-Ward 6, echoed Mr. Steffen.

“I think Mayor Witte made an excellent decision,” Mr. Jones said. “I believe that to address the overtime issue, this was one of the ways it could be done.

Not every alderman shared in the enthusiasm of Mr. Steffen and Mr. Jones.

Although realizing the value in filling vacancies within the fire department, Earl McElfresh, R-Ward 1, hoped for more discussions on the matter between fellow aldermen and city officials.

“My gut feeling is that it seems in the short term hiring the new (firefighters) was the right thing to do,” Mr. McElfresh said. “However, you have to look at 20 years down the road and the millions of dollars that will be invested in them.

“I thought there was going to be some more discussions on it,” he continued. “I also thought there was going to be a chance to submit questions about our options to the city attorney that she would relay to a labor expert. I just would have liked more time to talk about it and to find out what our options were.”

In looking at ways to cut costs from the fire department’s budget, Linda Edstrom, R-Ward 4, although in agreement with Mayor Witte’s decision, still supports the fire department hiring part-time firefighters.

“Using part-time firefighters would also give city officials a good opportunity to look at performances, and when a full-time position opened, we’d have a better idea of who to hire,” Ms. Edstrom said.

She cited that other public agencies, like the Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Office, employ part-time employees as a means to save money and evaluate performances.

Ray Wangelin, R-Ward 3, and Michael Kayes, D-Ward 2, could not be reached for comment on the matter by press time today.

In the interim, although no full consensus between the aldermen exists, Mr. Jones said he would like to follow through with Olean Fire Department Chief Robert Bell’s suggestion to hold open meetings to discuss the costs and services from the department.

“I believe that the council and the mayor need to take Chief Bell’s recommendations of assessing of the department’s and community’s needs,” Mr. Jones said. “I also think we need to have hearings to allow the public to discuss it. I’m open to any suggestions the public might have.”

(Contact reporter Christopher Michel at Cmichel@oleantimesherald.com)

Reader Comments

There are 5 comment(s) comments to this story.
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of bradfordera.com.

reader 5 wrote on Feb 4, 2010 10:47 PM:

" I'll bet that makes for good worker friendship,,the new ones having to pay more for their health insurance than the older ones,,how does the union allow that?? "

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wrote on Feb 5, 2010 12:10 PM:

" Am I the only person that remembers allegany's voluteer fire dept getting water on a downtown olean fire before olean? Taxes in Olean are ridiculous as it is. We need to go to a volunteer fire dept to cut down on expences. We are almost the number 1 taxed county in america largly due to olean. "

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shadow2541 wrote on Feb 5, 2010 6:23 PM:

" I would love to know what fire you are talking about. Its nice to see you can't put your name up for us to contact you. "

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VolunteerFF wrote on Feb 5, 2010 11:49 PM:

" Good luck with going to a volunteer department. Perhaps you should research that a little more before making that statement. The volunteer ranks have been dropping like a rock for decades. I'm not sure where you figure you're going to find volunteers. What the city needs to do is be willing to help cover places like Hinsdale, Westons, Allegany and the Town or Olean particularly during the daylight hours. They don't have the personnel to get a really good response during the day particularly. The City of Hornell is doing this and it works out great for everyone. But OFD has traditionally been against the idea. I don't know why when it would help secure their jobs. Or maybe one better, perhaps its time to look at a regional combination paid-volunteer department that covers the city and the outlying area. Chew on that one for a while. "

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Ron wrote on Feb 7, 2010 4:34 PM:

" This had better save 100K+ in overtime expenses or it wasn't worth it. "

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