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Florida Consultant Says Cutting Jobs Won't Affect Safety
TONY DORIS
Palm Beach Post
WEST PALM BEACH - A consultant looking for cost-cutting measures says the city could fire 52 firefighters - about a quarter of the department - without compromising safety.
Mayor Lois Frankel was not ready to say Monday whether she would support such a proposal.
"Any options that are presented must be carefully weighed to ensure that the safety of the citizens, businesses and visitors is not diminished," she said.
City commissioners are scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. Thursday to hear Fire Chief Phil Webb's opinion.
In a report that commissioners discussed Monday, the consulting firm Berkshire Advisors said so much overlap exists in fire department staffing that the city could cut at least 34 jobs with no effect on safety.
Berkshire said the city could let go of 52 firefighters if it persuaded the firefighters union to increase remaining staffers' workweeks from 48 to 53 hours. The higher figure is standard in most departments with around-the-clock shifts, the firm added.
The report comes as the West Palm Beach Association of Firefighters says it has hit an impasse in contract talks with the city.
The 198-member union local's contract will expire Sept. 30.
The city, whose budget year starts on Oct. 1, says the firefighter cuts could save up to $3 million.
Doug Greene, association vice president, said the union would withhold judgment on the consultant's report until it hears the chief's analysis.
Others in the community objected.
Joanne Jaimedes, former president of the Parker Ridge Neighborhood Association, blasted the proposed cuts as the result of unnecessary spending on government projects: from the new city hall to the waterfront renovation.
"Anytime a city government decreases services in favor of whatever the mayor's vision of her city is, it is not the way to go about achieving any progress at all," Jaimedes said. "There will never be a need for less services."
Berkshire Advisors' Michael Walker said the fire department is well-run, but the study found service overlaps that "increase protection hardly at all."
"West Palm Beach fire engines can respond to incidents in most but not all populated areas of the city within four minutes," the report stated. "There are, however, many areas of the city that can be responded to by more than one engine within four minutes. Providing this redundant coverage provides little added protection to the community and significantly increases costs."
Copyright 2009 The Palm Beach Newspapers, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
September 1, 2009
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ron Ayotte on
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Funny thing about "consultants".. they can make all these recomendations, collect their fees.. then go home.. which is not the community they advocated cutting services from....
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Permalink Reply by DUST on
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A consultant is a guy that knows 100 ways to make love to a woman, but doesn't know any women...
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Permalink Reply by Paul Montpetit on
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I bet money that the "consultant" doesn't live in West Palm Beach....what does that say about his "Data"...? Paul
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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I would ask the consultants making the recommendations to do so in their own communities and then come back and say what kind of affect such cuts have made to them personally.
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Permalink Reply by FETC on
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Okay so I am not going to bash consultants completely as I have been hired as one a few times.
Most consultants can be steered in the direction in which the authorized payee wants them to be. Meaning you want cuts, I will find big words to say cut this / that and it will have little effect on safety. Putting a spin on the numbers is not really that hard. Multiple units covering within 4 minutes is an easy to spin saying it is over protected. This is why the IAFF will authorize a GIS mapping study which includes actual time response studies that are accurate. It will also enlighten them with NFPA 1710 suggestion on the number of required firefighters to safely operate at a fire within a given time frame. (which comes from the overlapping coverage)
Just reading the article leads me to believe, sure they may have alot of overlap in coverage "on paper" BUT where is the time response study and the consideration to overlapping calls in which the first due is actually responding from the the second due district.
IMO most departments suffer upwards to 20-25% overlapping calls in which the primary units are already committed and that effects time response dramatically.
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