Fire, police officials decry staff cuts

GALVESTON — Police and fire officials said they worry City Manager Steve LeBlanc will propose staffing cuts so deep as to jeopardize response times and public safety.

LeBlanc proposed council members authorize a “serious reduction” in police and fire departments ranks to trim a budget shortfall. He has yet to say how many positions should be cut. He will present a budget to council members Aug. 12 that shows cuts in two departments, which employ 170 police officer positions and 127 firefighter jobs, though some of those positions are empty.

He has declined to comment about staffing or collective bargaining except in public meetings, citing an agreement with the police and fire unions, city spokeswoman Alicia Cahill said.

Police Concerns

Police Chief Charles Wiley said the city could trim the department to 140 police officers and still maintain programs and levels of service residents have come to expect.

Cutting to below 140 would put programs such as community policing at risk, Wiley said.

Response times would get longer, and the department would have a tougher time conducting investigations and cracking down on narcotics, prostitution and code violators, he said.

Officers might not be able to respond as quickly, if at all in some cases, to 911 calls, Wiley said.

“We can sustain 140 if we manage the department very, very carefully,” he said. “There’s no question in my mind that initiatives and services are at risk if we go any lower than that.”

Fire Officials Question LeBlanc

Interim Fire Chief Jeff Smith has declined to comment about the proposed cuts.

However, former Chief Mike Varela, who retired in mid-July, and Charlie Olsen, the chief negotiator for the fire union, said the fire department can’t afford to lose any firefighters without compromising service.

They said LeBlanc’s numbers are misleading: Though 127 people work for the department, 118 actually fight fires.

The rest are administrators or fire marshals, Olsen and Varela said.

At 118, the city has barely enough firefighters to meet contractual requirements, considering there are always firefighters on vacation, out sick, on training or otherwise off with pay, Varela and Olsen said.

“We feel we’re at a minimum now,” Olsen said. “We’re about as lean and efficient as you can get.”

Negotiating Staffing Levels

The police union can’t negotiate staffing levels, but the fire union can.

Three clauses in firefighter contracts affect staffing levels, and LeBlanc agreed to all three during negotiations in prior years, Varela and Olsen said.

One clause mandates four firefighters be on a truck on all calls.

Another mandates a minimum of 30 firefighters for each shift, and the third gives firefighters “Kelly Days,” time off with pay in addition to vacation and sick time.

Those “Kelly Days” equal the pay for nine firefighters each year, LeBlanc has said.

Varela said the “Kelly Days” were put in place to reduce firefighter overtime.

He said he doubted the union would agree to cut those days because LeBlanc might try to use those cuts to reduce the department by nine firefighters.

The minimum manning clause and the clause mandating four men be on a truck on all calls were put in place to protect the safety of firefighters, Varela said.

The Texas Commission on Fire Protection recommends four firefighters on a truck to ensure their safety, Varela said.

The best way to ensure that mandate was adhered to was to require minimum manned shifts of 30 firefighters, he said.

The Population Question

Varela also challenged LeBlanc’s assessments that the Galveston Fire Department seems to be overstaffed compared to similarly sized cities.

LeBlanc has said that Galveston, with an estimated population of 48,000, has 2.65 firefighters for every 1,000 people, or more than two times as many as the average city.

Despite population declines in the past 10 years, the numbers of firefighters have increased from 100 in 2000.

Varela said it was unfair to compare based on population.

Galveston’s firefighting needs are greater because of the island’s long and narrow shape, its densely packed historic buildings that fail to meet current fire codes, the more than 50 high-rise buildings, the presence of risky industries such as the Galveston National Laboratory and the port and the hundreds of fire hydrants that are not working, or working improperly, post-Ike.

He pointed to a 2007 study conducted by a consultant hired to advise the city on how to improve its insurance rating.

That study recommended the city bolster its fire department and immediately add two fire stations or 30 firefighters.

The city never did so, and now, the tips of the island are especially vulnerable to delays in response times, Varela said.

He also said he didn’t believe LeBlanc’s assessment that there are 600 fewer structures after Hurricane Ike and that calls for service are down 20 percent.

Though Varela said in early July that LeBlanc’s proposed cuts did not prompt him to retire, he now says that his opposition to LeBlanc’s suggestions that he trim the department by $1 million, or about 13 firefighter positions, prompted him to leave “on a good note.”

“I was opposed to laying off any firefighters,” he said. “I would have had a hard time sleeping at night knowing I jeopardized the safety of the citizens and firefighters.”