The City of Owen Sound is hiring a Deputy Fire Chief.
Mayor Ian Boddy says since January, Chief Doug Barfoot has had to work without a deputy, filling both roles by himself.
Most fire departments have a chief and deputy chief to both handle issues and grievances, cover holidays and take on-call shifts and to cover incident command.
A deputy fire chief can make anywhere from $119,000 to $135,000 a year.
The mayor says the city has considered all the other options available to it, since it had initially gone without a Deputy Chief to save money, but hiring one is the only reasonable way to go, according to Fire Chief Barfoot and City Manager Wayne Ritchie.
The Owen Sound Fire Department is expected to cost the city $4,786,921 this year, or roughly 17 per cent of the city’s $28 million operating budget. Police and fire together make 46 per cent of the budget. There are 21 fire department members on this year’s Sunshine List which shows public employees who were paid $100,000 or more in 2016.
Mayor Boddy says the city has already accounted for the additional position in its 2017 budget, adding the city is committed to finding the right person for the job, whether that person is already in the department or an outside hire.
Hiring within the department wouldn’t save money by giving an existing firefighter a raise, because Boddy says they’d then need a replacement for that firefighter’s old position.
The City has 26 suppression firefighters, a training officer, a prevention inspector, a prevention officer, a chief and a part-time administrative assistant.
City staff say having only one full-time member of management staff is not sustainable.