{"id":84361,"date":"2025-01-24T08:39:47","date_gmt":"2025-01-24T14:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=84361"},"modified":"2025-01-24T09:10:53","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T15:10:53","slug":"cititzen-comments-spark-conversation-about-fire-department-staffing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=84361","title":{"rendered":"Citizen comments spark conversation about fire department staffing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

File image<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By ALICIA FEYERHERM<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tiger Media Network<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During Thursday\u2019s City Commission meeting, citizen Justin Choitz spoke about Fire Department staffing, While Choitz said he is impressed by all the development on the east side of Hays, like the new Tallgrass division, he is worried about Fire Department staff handling that growth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith the staffing as it is now, does the Commission understand exactly how many people we have on duty for the City of Hays?\u201d Choitz said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Choitz brought a visual aid with him, showing the Commissioners a row of toilet paper with seven individual squares, each representing a Fire Department employee. Choitz then walked through the roles of each of those squares (people), tearing them off individually. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One employee is stationed full-time at the airport. One employee is a shift commander. Typically, one employee is either on leave or at training. That leaves two people at the fire station on 41st Street and two people at the Main Street station. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe that the City Fire Department is staffed to handle a significant incident,\u201d Choitz said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He further elaborated, saying the Fire Department often relies on mutual aid from the county. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s practical or reasonable to expect that they\u2019re there to help us out every time,\u201d Choitz said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later in the meeting, Commissioner Shaun Musil asked City Manager Toby Dougherty if he was comfortable with where the City is regarding public safety. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re always evaluating our future needs for public safety,\u201d Dougherty said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fire departments are evaluated on Insurance Services Office (ISO) ratings that measure how well-equipmed a department is to handle fires in its service area. They are measured on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being the best and 10 being the worst. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dougherty said Hays is at a 2 and that Hays is likely in the top five percent in the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere will be a time we will need to expand east,\u201d Dougherty said. \u201cWe know that. The airport fire station was designed to add on to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dougherty said that the expansion will likely be targeted sometime in the future and put on the Capital Improvement Plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd then it\u2019s figuring out how to pay for it,\u201d Dougherty said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vice Mayor Mason Ruder asked if Dougherty knew any estimated costs of that. Dougherty estimated the expansion would easily cost over $3.5 million, which does not include equipment costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also noted that the last staffing increase to the fire department occurred in the early 2000s in anticipation of another fire station being built. That fire station, now on 41st Street, was not added until two years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are at the point, though, that if you add another station, you will need to add more people,\u201d Dougherty said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musil said from a business perspective, he understands it\u2019s a balancing act. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to just hire people just to sit and be there because it costs money,\u201d Musil said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commissioner Reese Barrick said that with the growth east of town, looking ahead is important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just planning to be prepared so we\u2019re not caught off guard,\u201d Barrick said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other items from the meeting included awarding a bid for the 32nd\/33rd Street Construction and a Construction Engineering Services Agreement for that project and three items related to the Tallgrass 4th addition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next City Commission meeting will be at 4:00 p.m. on February 13th at City Hall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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