JEFFERSONVILLE — It’s only February but the Jeffersonville Fire Department has already run through more than half of its overtime budget for the year.

As of Monday, there was only $92,000 left in that fund and the department is paying two firefighters overtime each day in order to maintain contractually required staffing levels.

To be fair, Fire Chief Eric Hedrick said, about $43,000 of the overtime budget was spent in December. He wants to hire four more firefighters in an effort to stop the bleeding but the Jeffersonville City Council — who would have to fund the new hires — isn’t on board yet.

A discussion of the situation took place during the council’s meeting Monday night. No action was taken but the council did discuss the formation of an informal committee to find a solution to the problem.

Hedrick said the department has to maintain a staffing level of 19 firefighters on duty. Having fewer on duty or shutting down a firehouse or a truck would be a violation of the department’s union contract, he said.

“I don’t think we can afford not to staff appropriately,” he  said. “We have to have 19 per day.”

Council members didn’t see hiring new people as a way to solve the problem — at least not in the short term.

“To hear that we’re halfway through our budget and we’re only one month in — regardless of how you shake it we only have so much,” said Councilman Dennis Julius.

Even if the council did agree to make the hires, “we’re going to be out of money before we get them online,” Julius said. “We have to get together, sit down and come to conclusions immediately.”

Hedrick said some changes have already been adopted to move administrative people into active roles, but hiring four new firefighters would “take the pressure off the overtime really quickly.”

“It’s better to pay a new guy straight time than a senior guy time and half,” he reasoned.

Councilwoman Lisa Gill noted the city still hasn’t received its approved budget order from the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance. The council creates a budget, then submits it to the state, which typically sends it back to the city with cuts.

“Until we get our budget from the state our hands are tied,” she said. “In the meantime, what can we do?”

For a few seconds council members discussed the formation of a formal committee to decide on the issue. However, council president Ed Zastawny reminded members that if a formal committee was appointed it would have to hold its meetings in public.

Instead the council thanked Hedrick for the information and Zastawny said council members would informally make contact with him on the issue soon.



IN OTHER BUSINESS

• A claim which would have used $325 in taxpayer money to purchase tickets to a Republican Party fundraiser had to be removed from the city claims list.

The appropriation request was listed in Republican Mayor Mike Moore’s claims register. Connie Sellers, a fellow Republican, noticed the fund request and asked for it to be removed.

Council attorney Scott Lewis said the city could buy tickets to a charitable fundraiser but said it’s “not allowed to pay political contributions out of taxpayer funds.”

A motion to pay the claims, sans that appropriation, was approved unanimously.

• The council unanimously voted to vacate an unimproved portion of Ninth Street. The 1.76 acres being vacated sits between land owned by Geo. Pfau’s Sons Co., Inc. and the Louisville & Indiana Railroad Co.

• During the closing moments of the meeting Councilman Matt Owen said he was shocked by Mayor Moore’s plans and comments pertaining to two Jeffersonville Parks and Recreation Department matters reported in the News and Tribune during the last week.

First, Moore announced plans to sell RiverStage II, an entertainment barge the council voted to purchase in 2011. The projected costs to renovate the barge, which was to be a concert and entertainment venue, came in at $2.3 million.

However, Owen pointed out that the city’s current entertainment barge, called RiverStage, needs repairs because of its age and the administration doesn’t know how much it’ll cost to fix.

“It’s shocking to me we’re deciding to scrap projects when we don’t have all the information,” Owen said.

Further, he took issue with a recent letter the city’s administration sent to the council’s attorney, Scott Lewis, regarding the Jeffersonville Parks Authority.

According to Corporation Counsel Tom Lowe, the existence of the authority is out of compliance with Indiana law in that the statute under which it was created — back in 2008 — applies to municipalities with populations of less than 35,000. The city has grown since 2008, considering annexations, and its population is now about 45,000.

Owen said he thought the authority had been effective during the last four years. He specifically took exception to Moore’s statement that doing away with the authority would “take politics out” of the parks system.

Moore said under Jeffersonville’s population growth and second class city designation, the parks board should consist of himself and four members appointed by him.