ST. LOUIS — Public Safety Director Dan Isom put the ѿý Fire Department on notice Wednesday that he plans to shift its resources from firefighting to the emergency medical calls that make up the “overwhelming majority” of the department’s workload.
His comments at the ѿý Board of Aldermen’s meeting prefaced what could become another battle between Mayor Tishaura O. Jones’ administration and the city’s powerful firefighters union. But they also represented a commitment to begin to fix a short-staffed and often overlooked that previous public safety leaders say has been needed for years.
Isom had been called to testify at the meeting about another dispute between the union and city leaders — a hold on firefighter promotions Isom instituted at the beginning of the year — which he said was part of his larger goal to restructure the department.
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“I can’t emphasize enough that what we’re doing in terms of the structure of the fire department and EMS is not working,” Isom said. “We all know that. Yeah, we could go on and keep promoting and keep with the same structure and keep getting the same results. We need to move that money more towards EMS and the paramedic side in terms of resources because that is the bulk of the calls that we’re getting.”
Isom referenced the findings of a 2014 city-commissioned report that found the city had “excess firefighting capacity” and the EMS bureau within the fire department was “lacking” in “leadership,” “resources” and “deployment strategies.”
“I think that still exists today,” Isom said.
The study, from the , known as ICMA, was never widely publicized until the Post-Dispatch obtained and published a copy this summer, when more than half of the city’s 55 paramedic positions were vacant.
Fire union representatives and firefighters who were at the hearing to argue Isom lift his hold on promotions within the department questioned why he was bringing up the 2014 report now. Robert “Dan” Eveland, a fire captain and one of 17 plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit against the city over the hold on promotions, called the ICMA study “another new excuse” from Isom to halt promotions.
“We’ve heard a lot of reasons being given. They’ve ranged from the list is too old to the fire department is too top heavy in supervisory positions and needs to be evaluated,” Eveland, flanked by about a dozen firefighters who were also plaintiffs in the suit, told the committee. “And now, this ICMA study.”
Demetris “Al” Alfred, president of Local 73 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, called it “a very old study” and said the department was up to 17 vacancies in the positions of captain and higher. Dan Clark, secretary-treasurer of the union, said the study’s conclusion that the city could reduce fire suppression resources was based on a reconfiguration of fire stations to maintain four-minute response times.
“Yes we could restructure this, but we’re going to need some money to build firehouses,” Clark said.
The firefighters union has cried foul since Isom put a hold on promotions, which carry with them the promise of higher pay and pension benefits. The group of 17 firefighters filed a lawsuit this month to try and force the city to abide by a 2017 settlement agreement in a past lawsuit that they say obligates the city to continue making promotions until it holds a new promotional test.
The existing list the department uses for promotions is based on a 2013 test, which Isom said is too old. City Hall is currently working on putting together a new test for fire promotions.
“I feel for the firefighters who are standing back there,” Isom said, referring to the group with Eveland. “But I also feel for the firefighters that haven’t had an opportunity to take a test in 10 years.”
The fire department’s staffing of 448 fire privates and 114 fire captains authorized in this year’s budget is a “pretty low” management ratio, Isom said. He said he is also holding up promotions in the police department and that leaders there have “embraced” and “worked through these changes where we are not as overleveraged with upper command.”
“Of course, there has been a reluctance on the fire side to embrace these type of structural changes that can improve services,” Isom said.
‘There was money to do a test’
Isom also disputed that the city is compelled to continue promoting based on the 2017 settlement, pointing out that the agreement also called for a new promotional test in 2018 that was supposed to have been administered by the city’s personnel department.
“There was money to do a test in 2018,” Isom said. “Unfortunately for whatever reason the personnel division did not provide a test in 2018.”
The Personnel Department holds unique power within City Hall over promotions, hiring and the tests they’re based on. Its director can’t be fired by the mayor, but the former director, Rick Frank, left suddenly last year, giving Mayor Jones a rare opportunity to name a successor, which she did earlier this month.
Jones also managed to get the Civil Service Commission, which oversees the department, to change the rules and allow her to appoint an interim director — a move that quickly drew a lawsuit from the firefighters union.
Most aldermen urged Isom to allow the promotions and avoid litigation. Alderman Marlene Davis, though, said the Personnel Department’s past leadership could have been a factor in Isom’s decision to hold up promotions.
“We don’t know what was put in front of them from the previous personnel director,” she said. “And you all know, most of you all have been through this for a while. That was a hot mess.”
Alderman Joe Vaccaro said he planned to introduce a resolution urging Isom to make the promotions.
“It was in the budget,” Vaccaro said. “To me it just seems logical that we would promote these folks, move past it, not be tying up money in court and at the same time be putting a test together.”
But Isom was undeterred.
“If we get to the point where we feel that we need to make promotions off this list, we will,” he said. “But that will be based on need, not necessarily based on simply because there’s an opening.”
