During this week’s City Council meeting, members approved a resolution authorizing City Manager Jim Palenick to apply for and accept a grant from the Department of Homeland Security.
Unlike the previous two times the city was awarded a SAFER grant, this one will be fully federally funded, Lolli said. The grant is worth $1.4 million.
Nine years ago when the department received a SAFER grant and hired six firefighters, it created tension between the union and city leaders when those firefighters and nine others were eliminated due to budget cuts in the city.
Then in 2016, after receiving another grant, the city hired 12 firefighters/EMTs, Lolli said.
Lolli said if Middletown is awarded a three-year grant, by the time expires the department won’t have to eliminate the positions because of the aging force. He said 42 percent of his personnel has more than 23 years of experience and in the coming years, there will be “a huge turnover.”
He said the grant will allow the city to hire six firefighters/EMT and two will be assigned to the three shifts. Lolli said the hires will mean there will be 19 firefighters on duty, an increase from 17.
Lolli said operating the fire department with 17 firefighters is “a huge challenge” and adding one, two-man medic unit will improve the safety of the city’s residents.
While Lolli joined the fire department in 1989, he said there were 22 firefighters working each shift. In 2014, when the city closed Station 4 on Tytus Avenue, that number dropped to 13, he told council.
The fire department is budgeted for $186,000 in overtime and adding the six firefighters will reduce that overtime by $50,000, according to Lolli.
But receiving the grant is no guarantee, Lolli told council. He said Homeland Security used to issue $500 million in SAFER grants, but that dropped to $355 million this year. He said about 300 fire departments in the U.S. will receive grants.
“Pretty intense competition,” he told council.
He said the grants are announced in rounds and typically larger city fire departments are notified first. He said Middletown typically is notified in the fifth round at the end of July or August.
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