Fire Department Funds, Staffing to be Reviewed

CAPE MAY – Council began its May 6 meeting by hearing from a three-member team from the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center, a FEMA-sponsored organization. The team was in Cape May for a two-day statewide conference held at Convention Hall hosted by Cape May. Mayor Edward Mahaney called the session an “enriching two days” in which participants planned for future storms and discussed preparedness activities.
The team members each took a few moments to address the public. The three were environmentalist and academic Dennis Hwang, sustainability architect Dean Sakamoto, and Donald Watson, whom Mahaney called a pioneer on the issues of climate change. Watson is co-author of the book “Design for Flooding: Resilience to Climate Change.”
The Hurriplan Seminar is one of a number of courses and workshops conducted across the country by the center. The focus of the event here was to provide training “necessary to integrate resilient community planning and building design strategies with civic and commercial projects.”
The visiting team took the time to single out Mahaney for recognition of his efforts to organize and coordinate the conference.
Mahaney said the conference was an excellent way to help municipal governments plan for “where they are and where they need to be in 2030, 2050, and 2100.”
Hwang mentioned a homeowner’s workbook that Mahaney said would be valuable for all Cape May property owners. The workbook, in its third edition, was co-authored by Hwang and is published as part of the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program.
Fire Department
After the January reorganization of council and the seating of three new members, the city began the process of considering the budget for 2015. That process began with a detailed overview of the proposed budget by City Manager Bruce MacLeod. A $70,000 decrease, year to year, in the salary and wages budget of the fire department started a process of public involvement and expressions of concern over the staffing levels in the department.
Jerry Inderwies, a former fire department chief, was then a newly-elected member of council. Inderwies objected strenuously to the reduction in the department budget, but soon council’s energies and attention were consumed by the unexpected level of controversy that surrounded the ending of Robert Sheehan’s probation as police chief and his reversion to his former rank as captain at the March 3 meeting.
As issues surrounding Sheehan’s appointment mushroomed, the city became embroiled in conflict with County Prosecutor Robert Taylor, who eventually installed a monitor in the police department; with Sheehan himself, who has filed suit against the city; and with an increasingly angry segment of the public.
Through it all, over the last two months, a continuous undercurrent of concern over staffing levels in the fire department, the budget support, and ability of the department to respond in a timely and effective way to fires has gained steam at council meetings. Some have argued that the department is in violation of NFPA standards.
MacLeod, responding to a round of questions during public comment at a recent council meeting, used the manager’s agenda spot to provide a detailed report on the annual cost of hiring one new firefighter.
Factoring in initial salary under the existing contract, training, gear, and all benefits, including health, pension, and associated payroll taxes, MacLeod set the average cost of a new hire at approximately $75,000. He acknowledged that this figure also included overtime that is essentially built in to the work schedule, given the level of staff available.
The department has 14 full-time personnel including the chief. The schedule calls for 24 hours on and 48 hours off in a repeated cycle across the year. Staff available means that four individuals are on staff for each 24-hour shift. This level is increased during the summer, given that the equivalent of one full time staff member is added to the ranks from May to September.
MacLeod also reviewed the demand side of the equation. He said that the department receives about 2,000 calls per year, 75 percent of those are for ambulance service, 10 percent represent false alarms, 8 to 10 percent deal with hazardous conditions, 5 percent represent general service or public service issues, which might include accidents, and 1 to 2 percent are categorized as a fire.
MacLeod indicated that the department is also supported by part-time firefighters and volunteers and he acknowledged that the volunteer staff has been decreasing, a problem faced in many shore communities with aging populations across the county.
He went on to indicate that the department is also supported by mutual aid arrangements with other departments and by the U.S. Coast Guard department.
At the meeting that approved the budget for 2015, council responded to increased public concern by promising a study of public safety needs and current levels of resources. The intention at that time was that an independent consultant would be brought in for the study. Council has moved away from that concept at least for the sake of an initial review.
Charles Hendricks spoke out about the study and expressed his concern that the city did not have the experience and talent to conduct such a study on its own.
MacLeod asked council to appoint a small internal committee to conduct the review. He indicated that the city would then be in a better position to “decide on the need for an independent consultant.”
Council members Shaine Meier and Bea Pessagno volunteered to serve. The recent report from current Fire Chief Alexander Coulter would serve as the starting point for the committee’s deliberations. Responding to public comment at the meeting, Mahaney indicated that he would welcome public representation on the committee and MacLeod agreed. Mahaney asked MacLeod to report back on the finding of the group at the July work session of the council. Mahaney also indicated that the committee meeting would be public.
Public Comment
Former Fire Chief Wister Dougherty told council, “Enough is enough.” He indicated that he was not a supporter of the move to recall Mahaney, but he also told the mayor that he (Mahaney) lets his enthusiasm get involved “in things you shouldn’t be.” Dougherty was a member of the small committee that studied the city’s charter and made recommendations in 2003.
The result of that review was the vote that changed the form of government in Cape May to the city manager form Cape May has today.
This was by no means the first such change in Cape May, which has gone to and retreated from the city manager form on more than one occasion in its history.
Dougherty challenged council members to “get this thing back on track and end the nonsense.” Stating that this is the kind of situation Cape May cannot have occurring as the summer begins, Dougherty urged the reinstatement of Sheehan as chief of police and said council could deal with the issue of the alleged abuse of paid leave when all the facts are in.
He then urged council to approach the Prosecutor’s Office and negotiate an end to the city’s suit and the prosecutor’s use of a monitor in the police department.
“It is time to get the council working together,” he said. He reminded members that under the city form of government they are all equals. He urged members to watch out for instances where a council member is “poking their nose” in things that should be left to the city manager. Saying his recommendations may fall on deaf ears, Dougherty said it was time to “wake up to reality.”
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.