02 City Council Min 3-14-05 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Regular City Council Meeting March 14, 2005 Page 10 Manager Tony Williams informed the Council that he had met with Kent and Ronnie many times reviewing different options that could be considered. We have 26 people in EMS, 55 in the fire, 3 of those are clerical - there are still 78 officers involved. Marshall is doing that with 45 officers because it is a fire based EMS. Denison has 53. They are essentially our same size community. Why should it take us 30 to 33 more people to do that same job? I assure you that part of our problem is that we are a civil service fire department. It is impossible for your manager to move those EMS guys into the fire department. The law will not let me laterally transfer those folks. Councilwoman Wilkerson proposed that we divorce ourselves from the civil service. It takes 10% of all the number of voters that voted in the last municipal last election to bring it to an election. Councilwoman stated this proposal was just for the fire department. Tony stated we could certainly organize much more efficient and use all of those skills that we currently have in the EMS. Councilwoman Fisher said that no one has asked the question as to what the citizens want. She stated that they work for the citizens and were elected by the citizens. Councilwoman Fisher stated that we should not rush into anything. Councilman Wilson said let’s put it out there - if they want to have a civil service election, let them vote. Councilwoman Fisher said she was talking about the whole thing. Mayor Fendley asked if there were any other comments from Council. He stated the civil service EMS item was an issue. He advised that if they choose to go out for an election there are several items that need to be looked at such as the process and legal counsel input. Mayor Fendley suggested that staff come back and report to Council in a couple of weeks. Mayor Fendley inquired as to if the Council wanted to go ahead and proceed on the other items. Councilman Wilson said he felt they should proceed forward. Councilman Bell expressed concern about getting issues resolved by September of this year. Councilman Wilson stated Tony was already in the process of making cuts. Tony said he would like to put out competitive proposals and bring to Council for review. Councilman Bell suggested that the local government department have an opportunity to bid the same package. Mayor Fendley inquired as to if they wanted to vote on each item. Councilman Wilson suggested that they keep going until they go to something they weren’t