City rejects SAFER fire grant for $288,000

By Craig Fox
The Watertown Daily Times

WATERTOWN, N.Y. — In a close vote Monday night, the City Council extinguished a $288,000 federal grant that would have funded two vacant firefighter positions.

In February, council members voted, 4-1, to give Fire Chief Dale C. Herman permission to apply for the Federal Emergency Management Administration funding, but required that they have the final say on whether to accept the grant.

It failed to pass, by a 3-2 vote, on Monday night.

The funding would have paid the entire salaries and benefits of the two firefighters -- totaling an estimated $288,129 -- over the two years of the grant. The city would have been required to maintain staffing levels for that time or it would lose the federal funding.

The grant can be used to rehire laid-off firefighters, retain firefighters facing imminent layoffs, fill positions vacated through attrition or hire new firefighters to reach industry standards.

Much of the discussion on Monday night involved how the grant would impact labor talks with the Watertown Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 191. The city wants to reduce staff.

Opponents contended the grant would mean staffing levels would increase from the current level of 71 to 73. The city also would be put into the position of laying off the two firefighters -- without using any city money -- after the grant ran out. They believe the department is already overstaffed.

In the end, council members Teresa R. Macaluso, Stephen A. Jennings and Joseph M. Butler Jr. contended the city cannot afford to keep the fire department's current staffing levels. The grant would only make negotiations more complex, they said.

"I think the department needs to be more efficient," said Mr. Jennings, who was the lone council member to vote against applying for the grant.

The city uses a industry standard of "minimal staffing requirement" that maintains 15 firefighters are needed to be on duty at all times for safety reasons.

A consultant's study of the fire department's operations was completed earlier this year, recommending no change in staff levels or using negotiations to reduce staff.

However, Mayor Jeffrey E. Graham and Councilwoman Roxanne M. Burns supported accepting the grant. Mr. Graham said the grant "is not linked" to the contract negotiations, predicting that the labor talks will be lengthy and possibly end in a costly stalemate. Ms. Burns argued that the city already made a commitment to FEMA it would use the grant money.

"Four of us supported the grant and now we're changing our minds," she said, adding she worried the fire department would lose out on future funding by doing that.

Chief Herman told council members that the department should be staffed at a consistent level for safety reasons.

In a prepared statement, City Manager Sharon A. Addison said she did not buy that the grant has anything to do with safety, since she believes the department has too many members.

"The grant will not bring the fire department to a better state of readiness, training nor ability to preserve and protect the safety and welfare of the city," she said.

The city and the firefighters' union resumed labor talks last month. Another session is scheduled for August 12.

In recent days, about a dozen signs have been popping up in people's yards around the city in support of the union.

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