Debate Over Assistant Fire Chief Position Flares Up Again

Inver Grove Heights City Councilors struck a middle path in an ongoing debate between City Administrator Joe Lynch and members of the Inver Grove Heights Fire Department on Monday night.

Lynch isn't convinced the city needs the position—which would cost Inver Grove Heights $104,000 annually in additional salary and benefits expenses. But Fire Chief Judy Thill argues the growing number of calls the department has received and the heavy workloads of several fire department officials necessitates a new full-time officer.

At the council meeting on Monday, the council voted unanimously to have members of the city administration work with the fire department to complete a three-to-five-year strategic plan for the department by April 30, 2012. Among the objectives of that plan? Determining whether the department should hire the assistant chief.

For more than a year, the fire department has been working on the strategic plan—which will help determine the direction the department takes and whether any changes to the department's organizational structure are made.

But overworked department members haven't had the time or resources to finish the planning, and need the city to hire an assistant fire chief so the department has the manpower to complete the plan, Thill and fire department member Dan Bernardy said during the meeting.

Rather than hire an assistant chief to help the department complete the plan, Lynch originally proposed on Monday evening that the city employ an outside consultant for $21,000. The consultant, Lynch added, could help city administration and the fire department navigate an issue that has become a source of tension between city staff.

But several council members objected to Lynch's plan, saying they would prefer to complete the strategic planning in-house. In lieu of hiring a consultant, Lynch then proposed that city administration work directly with the fire department to complete the strategic plan.

Lynch's second proposal struck a chord with several council members, including Bill Klein, who verbally reprimanded the department during the meeting.

"I see sometimes the fire department wanting to be their own little island, and I don’t see that in any other departments, and I don’t like that idea," Klein said.

Two years in a row, Bernardy added, the council has budgeted for the position but not yet hired an assistant chief.

“That job needs to be filled, it’s well overdue," Bernardy said at the meeting.

“They’re very passionate and I understand and appreciate that, and they want to get more resources. Well, so does everybody else, and my job is to balance out the needs of the city with our priorities," Lynch said following the meeting.