EDWARDSVILLE, IL—Despite a protest from the fire department’s union, city officials opened a discussion about shuttering the Montclaire station and slashing two firefighter/paramedic positions.
During Thursday’s public safety committee meeting, Rodney Hall, president of Edwardsville Fire Fighters’ Local 1700 spoke against the notion.
“We have become aware that there will be a proposal put forth to eliminate at least two firefighter/paramedic positions and to permanently close fire station No. 2 in Montclaire subdivision sometime during the year,” he said.
“This is being done because of a perceived crisis in the Edwardsville Firefighters’ Pension Fund. The idea seems to be to use the money saved from the firefighters’ salaries and to use the proceeds from selling station two to help with funding the pension fund,” he said. “We believe this would be a serious and potentially life-threatening mistake.”
Hall said this information came from conversations he had with Edwardsville Fire Chief Richard Welle. City Administrator Kevin Head spoke for the city on the issue.
“Our recommendation is to close the Montclaire fire station, potentially sell the property and what we use those proceeds for as a city, there are many options,” he said. “On average, we believe that it would save the city, from the utility, maintenance and supplies standpoints, approximately $50,000 annually, not including manpower or equipment.”
Head said the city could use the proceeds for the pension, for procuring land for a future, newer fire station then reducing through attrition, the number of firefighters it currently has, which is 30.
“Deleting the two positions would save the city $100,000 per firefighter position. We’re not advocating eliminating positions; we’re advocating to not fill those positions at this time,” he said.
Hall said the fire department received 3,112 requests for emergency services in 2018.
“Closing fire station two would cause our response times to the eastern part of the city to be greatly increased,” Hall said. “This would put our citizens who live and work in those areas at a much higher risk.”
Head cited some negatives with Monclaire — its age and some failing infrastructure, issues with not being American with Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant, plus asbestos in the building. Head mentioned centralizing fire operations and its efficiencies.
“What we found is that a high percentage of our callouts were primarily EMT, not fire anymore,” Head said.
The city hired six firefighters in 2015, which decreases the perceived amount per head. Nine positions have been added over the past 12-15 years, Welle said. All of the city’s firefighters are EMTs.
“Since 2009, we have had a 50 percent increase in our emergency calls,” Welle said. “The boots on the ground weren’t just to fill the stations, it was also to take on the added volume of calls that we’re committed to.”
Hall said the locations of the Edwardsville Public Safety Building and the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) stations were determined using a three-station model, with fire station two as a critical part of that model.
“When we approved moving forward with this project, we included in that resolution that the idea was, as we had growth to the east, we’re going to look at moving the Montclaire station further east so that it fits within this overall concept of response times,” Welle said.
The city has three firehouses: Fire station #1 is at 333 S. Main St., just south of downtown, paired with the police station and known as the city’s public safety facility, which opened in 2017; Fire station #3 is on the SIUE campus and opened in 2016; Montclaire was built in 1969.
“It’s too close to station one and while I can tell you there will be some delay in response to those areas in Montclaire and to the south and east of it, because they’d be coming from the downtown station, it’s not the problem we had going west to the warehouses and the campus by having nothing out that way,” Welle said.
Welle said Montclaire’s closing should be part of a plan – a timeline, a location and buy property for a new station on the city’s east side, where city officials say future growth is on the horizon.
He called any staff reductions counterintuitive during a period of growth.
“I need the staff that I have,” he told the committee. “We work in three shifts and there are 10 people assigned to each shift. You take one person away, you’ve dropped staffing on that shift by 10 percent.”
He cited a negative effect on morale if there are staffing reductions, even via attrition.
“I have a crew that is very much vested in the department and their dedication to what they’re doing,” Welle said.
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