Firefighters from several Cleveland area cities joined their Bay Village counterparts Monday as they protested Mayor Debbie Sutherland’s recent decision to cut minimum staffing levels when a firefighter calls off. The firefighters set up pickets near Bay Village City Hall all day. (West Life photo by Larry Bennet)

Firefighters picket City Hall about cuts
By Jeff Gallatin
Bay Village
Published March 5, 2008

City firefighters took their disagreement with Mayor Debbie Sutherland’s recent cut in department minimum staffing levels to the streets Monday and got a little help from their friends.

Members of the Bay Village Firefighters Association picketed by City Hall at the intersection of Wolf and Dover Roads as well as Dover Road near Lake Road. They were joined by firefighters from an assortment of other Cleveland area departments. The move was prompted by Sutherland’s recent dropping of the minimum staffing level from six to five firefighters when a firefighter calls off work.

“We’re just trying to get the word out to people,” said Jim Walts, the Association president. “This is another way of doing that, and we certainly appreciate the support from the firefighters from other departments.”

Walts said he has not spoken about the situation with Sutherland since she cancelled a scheduled meeting last week with fire union officials.

“Clearly, she doesn’t have an open door policy,” Walts said, referring to the mayor saying she has an open door.

Sutherland said she cancelled the meeting because she didn’t believe anything could be accomplished at it.

“Nothing would come out of it,” she said. “It was an administrative decision and it’s done.”

Firefighters also planned to attend Monday night’s City Council meeting. Walts said they haven’t decided if they will picket again.

Matt Peters, from North Olmsted Firefighters Local 1267 and a former Bay Village resident, said it was important for other firefighters to support Bay Village.

“It cuts across city boundaries when you cut staffing levels,” Peters said. “We all depend on each other for mutual aid calls, so when you go below safe levels it will affect all of us if we need someone to help out elsewhere.”

Among the other departments present were Avon, Fairview Park, Lakewood, North Olmsted, Rocky River, Bedford Heights, Brooklyn, Independence and North Ridgeville.

Sutherland contends the move will help control departmental overtime costs for a tight 2008 budget. The mayor said the department overtime budget has gotten out of control, noting it was about $269,000 in 2007, with the administration’s proposed budget dropping that to $100,000.

“It’s only when a firefighter calls off, and it won’t affect most of the calls,” Sutherland said. “This is another of many ways to control the budget.’

However, firefighters contend the move is creating a safety hazard for city residents and firefighters by dropping the minimum staffing level. Walts said the city doesn’t have to balance the budget by cutting so much from the fire department staffing and funding.

“There are other ways to balance the budget,” Walts said, noting that the city has a $15 million general reserve fund which some officials, including Sutherland, are advocating using more of to curb the rising budget costs.

Walts disagrees with Sutherland, saying the overtime budget costs have gotten out of control.

“If the city added firefighters to the staff, they wouldn’t have to put out the overtime they do,” Walts said. “And the one year spike was largely caused by vacancies on the department. Additional staff could cure that.”

Walts also disagreed with an earlier statement by Sutherland that bringing the staffing level to five is similar to the department’s level prior to Bay Village West Shore Central Dispatch. Sutherland said of the six firefighters on duty then, five would go out if necessary and one would stay to handle phones and dispatching.

“It was up to the duty officer in charge to decide if the sixth man would stay or go out,” Walts said. “If the duty officer said to go, then the phones would be turned over to the police department.”

Walts said he also disagrees with the letter sent out to city residents by Sutherland and City Council President Brian Cruse last week after the firefighters sent a mailing saying the group needed help from residents and that they should call city officials to protest the staffing change. He added that he did appreciate meeting with Cruse, although he didn’t think the president should have signed the letter.

“They’re not providing the right budget numbers in the letter,” Walts said.

Both city officials disagreed with Walts’ contention that the figures in the letter are inaccurate.

“They’re right out of our budget,”  Sutherland said.

“I was happy to meet with them because their work is not in question,” Cruse said. “It’s the budget, and I’ve told the firefighters to show me numbers to back them up.”

Walts said he will provide Cruse numbers, but added he believed Cruse should already have them from prior information.