Minnesota Firefighters Are Facing a Major Shake-Up

The Northfield Volunteer Fire Department is on the hot seat.

City officials have abolished its outdated bylaws and plan to appoint its part-time chief instead of letting firefighters elect their leader.

The City Council is seeking to reverse more than a century of volunteer firefighters electing one of their own as chief. Once elected, they tend to stay a while -- the city has had three chiefs since 1960. Trying to modernize a department founded in 1872, the council wants to appoint a chief as it does with police and other department heads.

"We got a recommendation from a consultant and the League of Minnesota Cities that it was not appropriate for members [firefighters] to elect a fire chief," City Administrator Tim Madigan said.

The city's 30 paid on-call firefighters, who earn about $3,700 a year, also serve the surrounding rural area. They like having a say in choosing the leader who sends them into burning buildings. That's apparently true throughout Minnesota. More than 90 percent of Minnesota fire departments have paid, on-call firefighters, and most elect their chief, said Jerry Anderson, a former Northfield mayor and Fire Department administrator.

"The guys like to have some control over their leadership and destiny. Then they take ownership in providing the service we do," said Fire Chief Gerry Franek, who owns an electrical contracting business.

The Fire Department, along with City Hall, police and other city agencies, was cited by the Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspectors early last year. The department's nine violations -- second only to the 11 citations given the Police Department -- included electrical and recordkeeping violations as well as one shortcoming that Mayor Mary Rossing considered very serious: firefighters had no manual of standard operating procedures for emergencies and other situations.

"Gone are the days when you can say the guys know what to do. No, you need to write it down and say this is what we do in case of an emergency. This is our standard of operations," Rossing said.

After the OSHA citations, the city hired consultant Michelle Soldo to review Fire Department operations, and her recommendations included hiring a full-time appointed chief and abolishing outdated department bylaws, which already has been done, Rossing said.

The appointment issue has been put on hold for several months while three committees of firefighters develop standard operating procedures, improve training-program documentation and recommend an equipment update plan, including what vehicle the city should buy this year to replace its 1978 ladder truck, officials said.

Written procedures advance

Rossing applauded firefighters' committee work, including the group that is adapting boilerplate operating procedures from other cities for Northfield's department. Their suggested changes will be reviewed by Public Safety Director Mark Taylor, who oversees the police and fire departments, she said. The committees are expected to report by May, said Franek, who earns about $18,000 a year as chief.

When the reports are done, the council will revisit the question of chief selection.

Rossing noted that the Minnesota League of Cities, which insures the city, said it can't defend the city against discrimination lawsuits stemming from how an elected chief is chosen.

"You can't elect a city employee," even a part-time fire chief, Rossing said. "We know we need to appoint the fire chief." She said Franek would be encouraged to be a candidate. "We would love to have the job filled internally," she said.

Meanwhile, Franek has hired legal counsel. Attorney David Hvistendahl sent the city a letter in November saying that Franek's employment contract specifies he can only be terminated for just cause and then only if firefighters vote to support a city recommendation to remove him.

Hvistendahl noted that a straw poll found 26 of 27 firefighters present in an October meeting opposed recommended changes that included an appointed chief.

"Top-down management will kill the camaraderie and cooperative spirit necessary to draw volunteers to a dangerous on-call job," the attorney wrote the council. He said risk managers should review department injuries, which numbered five in the past decade and were limited to a minor burn, two sprains and two instances of cuts or bleeding.

Jim Adams - 952-746-3283