Middletown Council Backs Fire Department Shift Change, Despite Firefighters' Protests

The Town Council on Monday night unanimously backed Town Administrator Shawn Brown’s proposal to change firefighters’ shift structure — a shake-up that could save more than $300,000 as Middletown tries to close a $3.1 million budget gap this year, but has drawn heated opposition from firefighters.

Council members unanimously passed a resolution supporting the proposed restructuring. It will take a final vote on April 4 following a second reading of the measure.

Brown has proposed that the Town Council vote to adopt an ordinance to amend the Town Code that governs the organization of the Fire Department, restructuring its divisions from four to three and thereby creating 24-hour shifts followed by 48 hours time off. The current weekly schedule consists of 10/14-hour shifts, with four days on and three days off each week.

Firefighters packed the council chambers Monday night. About 10 opponents spoke against the measure, representing firefighters, family and community members.

Some of those comments are available to view in the video at right.

Opponents argued that the shifts would result in more than 700 hours of additional time worked per year at no extra pay, effectively reducing their overall pay rate, and that the 24-hour shifts would increase stress, fatigue and risks of mistakes among emergency service personnel, all while causing hardships on families with firefighters away for 24 hours at a time, including on holidays.

“These 24-hour shifts disrupt these family routines,” argued Middletown resident Tom Welsh.

“The $4,200 in taxes I pay from my 1,000 square foot home should allow you to keep the word safety in public safety,” wife Monica Homer said, before reading a letter from her firefighter husband who was working at the time and unable to attend the meeting.

Firefighter Peter Farber Jr. also raised concerns about personnel being required to stay on a shift and work 48 hours in instances where others have called in sick or have been injured. He also maintained that 24-hour shifts are better suited for fire departments that provide only fire suppression services—not the combination of fire and emergency medical rescue services the Middletown Fire Department provides.

However some Town Council members pointed out that approximately 80 percent of fire department across the United States staff fire houses using the 24-hour shift rotation and that Middletown was among the minority using the 10-hour/four-day model.

“The reality is that we have a $3 million deficit and this is one of those things we’ll have to do," Brown said following the vote. "It’s just one of many areas where we will have to find savings."

The Town is scheduled to meet again with the Fire Department union on Wednesday in the third of a series of meetings this year to negotiate the new contract term up for renegotiation at the turn of the fiscal year this summer. As a result of the Town Council resolution, the town and union will enter into “effects bargaining” to begin discussions on pay, overtime, benefits and more terms, Brown noted.

Last year’s negotiations went to binding arbitration, in which the arbitrator cut the base pay of the firefighters by 2 percent to redistribute that money into the trust fund toward the firefighters’ post-retirement health care, said Brown. The firefighters also saw their health plan co-pay increase from 8 percent to 20 percent to match other Middletown employees.

At that time, the arbitrator also ruled against the town’s proposal to create the 24-hour shifts, however town officials maintain the Town Council retains the authority to restructure the Fire Department as outlined in the Town Charter, Section 702, which states, “…The further organization of the department into divisions or offices or grades shall be made by the town council on recommendation of the town administrator after conferring with the fire chief.”

Firefighter Christopher Hopkins accused the town of bargaining unfairly by changing the department structure after an arbitrator ruled against it last year.

“Is this some sort of scare tactic to see how far we bend before we break?” he questioned, later adding, “Finally I want you to ask yourselves, will this be fair?”

The council’s vote came after more than an hour of testimony, in which Brown stated his case for making the change, beginning with an overview of how the town faces the $3.1 million deficit this year and ending with his and the council’s pledge to look for similar cuts across all town departments when Middletown’s draft budget is presented in two weeks. Much of the debt stems from reductions of state and federal aid to Middletown schools, the hit to the tax base by the recession, as well as necessary but expensive capital improvements the town has been required to perform by state and federal regulatory agencies to reduce stormwater contaminants in Easton’s Bay, among other factors.

The current fiscal reality is one in which town officials had seen coming for some time but could not avoid, despite efforts, he said, calling the vote before the Town Council the first moment of many toward “reconciliation” for town finances.

“There’s no money coming from the federal government. We’ve lobbied, we’ve traveled to Washington,” Brown told the council. “There’s a certain amount of pain that will have to be shared across the community to do this…The challenge I will have with all my department heads will also be starting out with asking the question, ‘what services are essential, what services are non-essential?’ And then you go from there.”

Even if Middletown raised taxes by 3 percent, the deficit would still total well over a million dollars, Brown said.

“We need to explore these efficiencies and act upon them,” he said. “The budget I will release on April 1 will have similar cost-cutting proposals throughout town.”

• The complete Town Council meeting from Monday, March 21 is available to view online at the town website.
• Get highlights from the separate Town Council measure taken up regarding the hunting of coyotes.
• Read the Letter to the Editor from Middletown Firefighter Jonathan Reese here.