July 8, 2021 at 1:29 p.m.
Council approves updated organizational chart
Council approves updated organizational chart
The council first reviewed the updated organizational chart on June 14 at which time interim fire chief Josh Schmitz expressed concern regarding the omission of the assistant fire chief position.
The council ultimately voted to table the topic until June 28, at which time Schmitz continued to press for the assistant chief position to be filled.
Todd McEldowney, chair of the city's police and fire commission (PFC), also addressed the council regarding what he referred to as "glaring omissions" in the chart.
"We feel protective services are very important to our community," McEldowney said on behalf of the commission. "Our community is growing and it's important that we have the best police and fire departments we possibly can."
McEldowney went on to note that the PFC was concerned that the leadership of the police and fire departments did not see the chart until just before the June 14 meeting and characterized the deletion of the assistant fire chief position and lack of specificity regarding the number of police sergeants to be "glaring omissions."
"We don't need to reduce staff at this point," he said. "We feel very strongly about protective services and we would hope that you would also."
Several council members questioned city administrator Zach Vruwink regarding the chart. As he did during the June 14 meeting, Vruwink repeatedly stressed that the chart will evolve over time.
"This is a point-in-time discussion," he said. "Adoption (of the chart) today does not mean we're not going to bring forward future modifications."
The city's human resources generalist, Doreen St. Onge, echoed the sentiment.
"This is really a puzzle we're trying to put back together to make the most sense moving forward," she said, noting that the chart had not been looked at for a number of years.
"As things change, it keeps getting updated over and over," she added.
Alderperson Eileen Daniel wanted to know how the fire department is operating at present, in the wake of the retirement of veteran fire chief Terry Williams in February and former assistant chief Tom Waydick in early June.
"I just jumped into the role (of interim chief)," Schmitz said. "I'm trying to figure it out on the fly. We had Tom (Waydick). Tom had enough, I'm the next in line. We're trying to figure it out every day. Every day we're just trying to get through."
Prior to the retirements of Waydick and Williams, the department structure included an administrative staff of a fire chief and assistant chief, as well as three deputy chiefs one for each of the three shifts per day. As Schmitz moved from deputy chief in charge of one of those three shifts to interim chief one deputy position is currently vacant.
As the discussion continued, Vruwink stated that the city had hired a summer sub for the fire department to help ease staffing concerns.
"To clarify, we do have a summer sub, but he's not a paramedic and doesn't meet our minimum qualifications for what we hire," Schmitz interjected. "He is filling in but is not qualified for full-time placement."
Schmitz also took exception to a remark Vruwink made regarding his belief that there are a relatively low number of cities comparable in size to Rhinelander that have full-time career fire departments.
"I don't believe that's the case," Schmitz said before delivering an impassioned speech regarding the value of full-time career fire departments.
"The businesses in this community need the fire department," he said. "They rely on the fire department. If the paper mill ever burned down, and there's not a fulltime fire department, they will never come back. It's been stated many times. The reason businesses are coming to town is because of our services. The reason we have that dome (the Hodag Dome), the reason we have investors wanting to come to town is because of us. If you're not going to invest in your departments, nobody's going to come here. You're asking for investors but you don't want to invest in your departments and your employees."
Vruwink responded that he was referring to the number of comparable cities with full-time departments in the context of comparable compensation and organizational structures and was not commenting on the value of the department.
"I hope that maybe you would retract your statement that the city or the city council doesn't believe in investing in a full-time fire department because that's not what the statement was," he added.
On a couple of occasions throughout the discussion, Vruwink also mentioned the possibility of "accelerating the placement" of a new full-time fire chief.
Alderman Tom Kelly suggested tabling the chart for a second time, but his motion failed.
Following that vote, city council president Ryan Rossing made a motion to approve the chart, though he stressed that he does not want to see the city's public safety services be reduced.
"I appreciate those guys immensely," he said, adding that he's hopeful that Vruwink and the administrative staff will see the need is there and recreate the assistant fire chief position in due course.
It was also mentioned that 91 percent of the assistant chief's wages were "charged to" the inspection department and it's unclear the level of supervision or oversight that position had over fire and EMS services.
Ultimately, Rossing said he wanted to "move forward and adjust later if we need to adjust."
For his part, mayor Chris Frederickson admitted the city was "not ready to lose two (fire) chiefs." He noted that government always evolves over time and argued that his administration is "far quicker and more amicable" than others.
The vote to approve the chart was 7-1 with Kelly casting the lone dissenting vote.
Heather Schaefer may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.