Trustees consider hiring full-time firefighters, chief

by Melissa Martin

Sept. 3 township trustees meeting

Following the resignation of township Fire Chief Jestin Grossenbaugh and the fire department’s Administrative Assistant Jen Amburn in early September, the Hinckley Board of Trustees is now considering the hiring of a full-time fire chief and additional full-time firefighters.

“[Grossenbaugh’s] departure presents us with a unique opportunity to have a discussion about the future [of the fire department] here in the township,” Trustee Jack Swedyk said. “I understand the budget would have to be completely analyzed and budget projections would have to be made before we could consider these possibilities, but I think it’s something worth looking into.”

Swedyk said the full-time positions he is looking to create would come in addition to the three full-time firefighter positions trustees approved late this summer. By expanding the full-time roster even further, he said the department would be better positioned to retain employees who have historically left the department for full-time positions in other communities shortly after they were trained.

Those departures, trustees explained, come at a significant expense to the township, given that the firefighters typically leave after the department has already invested in their training, gear and equipment. The department is then forced to invest additional funds in the training and outfitting of replacement firefighters, Swedyk said.

“If we consider adding more full-time fire department members, I hope our current firefighters would apply for those positions,” he said.

Swedyk said the proposal would effectively transform the once all-volunteer department into more of a hybrid fire department.

“I feel this would better serve the community,” he said. “We would have some regular people who are always here, so I think it makes some of those issues go away that the department has been dealing with as of late due to not being able to keep people on staff.”

Trustees Monique Ascherl said she agrees the proposal is one worth exploring.

“Hinckley is unique in that we are growing,” she said. “I see the need for full-time people on our department, but I also see the value in having the part-time help that has built the department into what it is [today.]”

Ascherl proposed the township hire three full-time firefighters, which would bring the department’s number of full-time staffers to three. Accordingly, she said, the department would always have two full-time employees on staff for each of the three shifts. She recommended the third person on each shift be a volunteer member of the department.

Trustee Cyntia Engleman said she, too, is open to the idea of hiring additional full-timers, stipulating that a full-time chief also would be needed under this staffing model.

“If you have a full-time staff, I think you really need a chief who’s there 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday, on a consistent basis so that you have good dialogue and communication going on all shifts,” Engleman said.

Trustees also opted to edit the job description and responsibilities for Grossenbaugh’s replacement. While the chief’s position will remain part time while plans for a hybrid department remain in discussion, trustees indicated they do not plan to hire another administrative assistant. Instead, they have opted to hire an administrative chief and combine the two salaries, which means the new chief would be paid $55,000 a year.

By comparison, Grossenbaugh earned $38,000 a year as a part-time chief.

“We’re not going to be spending any additional money, we are just consolidating the roles,” Ascherl said, noting that the new part-time chief would be responsible for staffing, scheduling, filing incident reports, entering payroll, maintaining training and certification records and submitting reports to state and national fire reporting systems.

Trustees said the chief’s functions will be reevaluated if and when the township decides to make the chief’s position full time.

In Grossenbaugh’s absence, trustees voted unanimously to appoint Assistant Fire Chief Shawn Barrett to the role of acting fire chief, effective Sept. 2. They also voted to increase his pay to the chief’s rate of pay through Sept. 28.

“If we are still looking for a new chief at the end of that pay period, we can amend [the resolution] and extend it until a new chief is hired,” Ascherl said.

Trustees also accepted the resignation of Lt. Andrew Baxter from the department, effective Sept. 30. ∞