WESTFIELD—The city’s Fire Commission made some changes to its personnel decisions, one of which could save the city up to $15,000.
The Westfield Fire Commission met briefly in front of the public yesterday during its monthly meeting before moving to executive session. During the meeting, the commission used the time to address vacant firefighter positions and procedures for those newly hired.
The biggest budget item though, was not due to cost but due to potential savings in the future—the decision to move away from civil service testing when hiring a new fire chief.
The commission voted to move forward with finding an alternative option when vetting options for fire chief when the position becomes vacant next. Currently, the department relies on the Massachusetts civil service process to find appropriate candidates, but the cost can range from $8,000 to $15,000.
Albert Masciadrelli, Westfield Fire Commissioner, said that the commission had little choice in making the decision to try and move on from civil service because the state has already made the decision to move away from civil service testing for the Chief position. He also added that since it is a departmental promotion rather than an outside or initial hiring, the process can be modified and the pool of candidates is generally smaller.
For newly-hired firefighters, Westfield Fire Chief Mary Regan requested that the department be allowed to modify the length of servitude on probation the new hire must serve before being cleared for full duty to when the department officials see fit. Currently, the department is allowed to have new firefighters on probation for one year before they are cleared for full duty.
“It’s important and the officers felt it was important to extend probation, as appropriate,” Regan said.
Westfield Fire Chief Mary Regan
Regan said that due to contracts, the probationary extension can only be for an additional two months, which could be appropriate in most cases since the new hires are away for approximately that time to get training at Massachusetts Fire Academy.
Also regarding personnel, the commission decided to move forward with the interview process for potentially new firefighter-paramedics. The department is currently in need of two new firefighter-paramedics, but other local departments are also seeking personnel and are generally choosing from the same pool of qualified applicants. Westfield Fire Deputy Chief Andy Hart said to the commission that among the local departments Agawam Fire Department has sent out inquiries to several candidates and the town has a more streamlined process than Westfield, which could mean losing highly qualified candidates.
The commission moved to have interviews for candidates on Jan. 18 at 6 p.m.
