Tolland Town Manager Proposes Hiring Second-In-Command For Public Safety

Joni Mitchell wasn’t thinking about public safety supervisors and fire chiefs back in 1970 when she sang about people not knowing “what you got till it’s gone” but Town Manager Steven Werbner knows what the town has in its fire chief and wants him to stay.

It’s not that Public Safety Supervisor and Fire Chief John C. Littell is planning to take another job or to quit. He’s not. But Werbner on Monday said he fears that if the town doesn’t get Littell some administrative help in running the town’s public safety divisions, which includes the fire department, Littell will simply “burn out.”

“He is the fire chief, a first responder, and an administrator,” Werbner said. “He is at a good number of scenes,” Werbner said referring to the emergency medical calls and fires that Littell has answered.

During his budget presentation to the town council last week, Werbner recounted how Littell keeps him informed about serious incidents in town and that the chief has even called him at three o’clock in the morning from scenes.

Werbner is recommending the town spend $39,444 in the coming fiscal year to hire an assistant public safety supervisor for the town. That recommendation will be among the items discussed Tuesday evening as the town council finalizes its budget that will be presented to residents April 26.

Tonight’s meeting, at which the council will consider Werbner’s total $50,527,427 spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1, begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Council Room in Town Hall.

The overall budget plan includes $34.6 million for education, an increase of $828,896 or 2.45 percent and $10.8 million for town departments, an increase of $210,460 or 1.98 percent.

The total spending increase in Werbner’s budget is $1.21 million or 2.45 percent.

Earlier this year, the town hired a consultant, Field Services Inc., to assess the current and future service needs of the Tolland Fire Department. The consultant found that while the public safety supervisor’s position is considered a “40-50 hour  to the Town in the coming years.  The report stressed that moving forward, the department focus should primarily be personnel and staffing.  Much focus was placed on the Public Safety Supervisor position which generally is considered a “40- 50-hour position,” the supervisor “:works on a regular basis in excess of 70 hours per week.”

“The demands of the position to supervise both paid and volunteer staff are 24 hours a day,” Werbner told the town council. “ The study concluded that “there is considerable concern that the fire chief may be overstretched.”

The fire department’s roster comprises both paid and volunteer firefighters. There are six paid or career public safety officers in the department and one supervisor and approximately 55 volunteers. The department operates four stations throughout town and maintains a central administration and training facility.

In line with the consultant’s recommendations,” Werbner proposes that town spend $39,444 to hire  “a second in command who can mirror the responsibilities of the public safety supervisor and respond to evening emergency calls. Werbner said the proposal has the backing of the fire department’s board of directors. Werbner proposes a start date for the position of Jan. 1, 2012.