Batavia committee approves adding second deputy fire chief position to fire dept.

The Batavia Committee of the Whole approved the addition of a second deputy fire chief position to the Batavia Fire Department during its May 10 meeting.

“The current structure is a chief and a deputy chief,” said Alderman Dan Chanzit. “Staff is making a recommendation that we replace that structure with a chief and two deputy chiefs.”

Chanzit said the discussion of adding another position began after the retirement of former Batavia Fire Chief Randy Deicke.

“I can tell after reading the [memo] that staff did agonize over this,” Chanzit said. “This almost a quarter million-dollar position, so it is not without cost.”

According to meeting documents, the additional deputy fire chief would have a minimum base salary of $151,325, and would cost the city a minimum of $255,682 annually after benefits.

Fire department staff said that the second deputy chief would help to manage department workload and deal with succession planning, according to Chanzit.

“We have made a determination that, although as you note, it is a significant financial impact. I think the positive impacts to the organization of the fire department are superior to that,” said Batavia City Administrator Laura Newman.

Newman said that the new one chief, two deputy chief structure was based on the Batavia Police Department’s model.

“We have a seen a primary example of that due to the similar structure of chief and two deputy chief positions in the police department, which has both afforded the opportunity for a similarly complex but maybe different in nature of administrative responsibilities,” Newman said. “It also has provided the ability to have greater managerial oversight of the rest of the organization.”

Newman said that additional position would allow for more growth opportunities for fire department staff.

“We have recognized that not having a second deputy fire chief position has made it very difficult for the fire department in the past to find amongst the current core of individuals under employment, those individuals who are ready to advance because they have not had such opportunities for career development and gaining experience at the administrative level,” she said.

The Batavia Fire Department employs 40 on-call firefighters at any given time, according to meeting documents.

A lack of mobility within the Batavia Fire Department has also created issues with the retention of its paid firefighter staff, Newman said.

“It’s just a nature of us only having so many openings on the Batavia Fire Department that these are individuals who are looking for full-time employment with another fire agency,” she said. “We’re having to constantly recruit for those paid on-call positions and we are having to constantly train new individuals.”

Newman said that the two deputy fire chiefs would focus on different aspects of running the fire station but will frequently swap those focuses to allow for more well-rounded administrative training.

“That provides a great structure to be able to switch those two positions,” said Alderman Alan Wolff. “Then you prepare them to be able to do anything and to assume the chief’s job.”

Aldermen will vote to approve the resolution during the May 16 City Council meeting.