Q&A
EMS staff retention and lieutenant vacancies
0:29:54
·
57 sec
Council Member Ariola addresses the issue of EMS staff retention and lieutenant vacancies. Chief Fields provides updates on recent efforts to fill lieutenant positions.
- Pay parity is cited as a reason for staff leaving for other jobs
- There were previously up to 90 lieutenant vacancies
- Recently, 47 lieutenants were promoted in July and 51 in September
- The department now reports that the lieutenant headcount is at full strength
Joann Ariola
0:29:54
And I think that the reason for for them going to other places is because the pay parity just isn't there, and they can't make ends meet with the money that they're getting paid.
0:30:03
But according to 2507, the local union overseeing the EMS, they say that they have a vacancy of 90 lieutenants, and that's creating severe delays.
0:30:14
Would you agree with that?
Michael Fields
0:30:15
So currently, we do not have a vacancy, but I do agree that in the past, prior to this summer, we have vacancies that were upwards of 90 lieutenants, and that was secondary till then not being a decast list available at the time.
0:30:30
Since then, the decast list has been made available, we promoted a total of 47 in one class in July, and then we just promoted an additional 51 in September of this year.
0:30:42
So our head count in respects to lieutenants and officers, is one point.
0:30:46
It's it's it's equal.
Joann Ariola
0:30:48
So that should show us a decrease in response times now.
