Staffing issues slated to be addressed at City Commission meeting Tuesday

By Michael Glover

The Fort Scott Tribune

The new eastside fire station is nearly completed and Fort Scott City Commissioners have to decide on staffing the facility.

Fort Scott Director of Public Safety Jeff Davis will give a report on the staffing issue and commissioners may vote on it at Tuesday's commission meeting starting at 6 p.m., at Fort Scott City Hall.

Davis gave commissioners six options on staffing the fire station.

They include:

Hiring six firefighters; hiring three firefighters; hiring an administrative fire officer; moving the current staff from the main fire station to the east side station; not staffing the station; or splitting the current on-duty crew.

Fire Station No. 2, located at the corner of First and Franklin streets, will be ready for service by July 15, according to Davis's policy report on the issue.

Staffing the station has been discussed over the past two years. The city applied for a state grant that would fund staffing. They re-applied for the grant after getting turned down the first time but found out May 1, they were denied again. Competition from other cities may be a reason for the denial.

Davis recommended the hiring of three firefighters. Funding was in place in the 2008 budget for salaries and benefits for the firefighters. The hiring will result in placing one firefighter at the station approximately 90 percent of time and the addition of three firefighters would reduce overtime costs associated with filling shift vacancies, Davis reported.

Also at the meeting, commissioners will vote on the following:

* Consider giving the Bourbon County Court Appointed Special Advocates $5,000 for costs to continue providing advocates for children the organization serves in the community.

* Consider allocating $5,000 for the Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center for the delivery of care in Fort Scott.

* Hear a second and final reading of an ordinance that would change residency rules for city employees.

Full details from the commissioner's meeting will be available in the Wednesday, June 4, edition of The Fort Scott Tribune.