PAGE A8, KEIZERTIMES, JUNE 17, 2016
KFD adds shift commanders if budget gets OK School district
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
The Keizer Fire Board will
consider the proposed budget
for the upcoming fi scal year at
its meeting Tuesday, June 21, at
7 p.m.
Keizer Fire District’s Budget
Committee approved the pro-
posed budget last month and
forwarded its recommendation
for approval to the fi re board.
The centerpiece change in
the budget would call for three
current district employees to
modify their current work
schedules and be assigned the
role of shift commander. The
proposal generated a fl urry of
debate at a recent Keizer Fire
Board meeting as directors
weighed the options involved
in instituting a pilot program.
Some members of the board
wished to take more long-term
look at the staffi ng needs, but
settled for a six-month shift
commander trial period, set to
begin in January 2017.
In a letter to the fi re board,
Jeff Cowan, Keizer fi re chief,
said the change is intended to
help solve logistics problems
caused by increased call volume.
“Approximately 35 percent
of our calls occur while another
call is in progress, often requir-
ing a medic unit to handle a call
on their own or requiring the
engine company to ‘abandon’
one call for another,” Cowan
wrote.
KFD experienced a 9.1
percent surge in calls last year.
Given limited resources, it
frequently meant calling for
back-up from surrounding fi re
services, either Salem Fire De-
partment or Marion County
Fire District No. 1.
The new shift command-
ers, division chiefs Brian Butler
and Hector Blanco along with
Capt. Ryan Russell, would re-
spond to overlap calls with a ca-
reer or volunteer fi refi ghter and
free up the engine company of-
fi cer that rides on the engine to
the initial call.
Additionally, the shift com-
manders could: pick up person-
nel from the hospital; respond
to public service calls, burn
complaints and other low pri-
ority calls; and shadow new
offi cers to provide immediate
feedback on performance. In
either of the fi rst two scenarios,
the presence of the shift com-
mander would free up the en-
gine for higher priority needs.
The function would nor-
mally be performed by a bat-
talion chief, but KFD has no
battalion chief program. Cowan
told members of the budget
committee the shift command-
er program would allow KFD
to sidestep some of the extra
costs incurred with establishing
battalion chiefs.
“The shift commander a
step above battalion chief, and
salaried, to avoid the other costs
incurred by them being hourly
and incur overtime,” Cowan
said. “We want to gather some
data and see if our guys can
meet the demand. We’re try-
ing to get through some tough
growing pains, and close the
gap between what’s needed and
what we can afford.”
The program is expected
to cost KFD an additional
$49,000 in personnel expendi-
tures, $4,000 in additional pay
for Ryan, who will become an
acting-in-capacity shift com-
mander for the length of the
trial, and $45,000 for a tempo-
rary hire while the program is
underway.
While it is adding to costs,
Cowan said the larger change
will be in the way shifts are
structured for the shift com-
manders. Currently, Butler and
Blanco are considered admin
personnel meaning they typi-
cally work a standard 9-to-5
schedule with additional ap-
pearances after hours during
meetings and major emergen-
cies. Under the pilot program,
they will become members
of the regular 24-hour-on,
48-hour-off shifts, and they will
still be required to perform ad-
min duties during those shifts.
“Whether they can do all of
that is the big question we have
to answer,” Cowan said.
Other items of note in the
proposed budget include:
• The addition of a part-time
clerk to assist with front offi ce
work.
• A 59-cent local option levy
approved by voters in 2014,
will allow the district to con-
tinue the employment of seven
fi refi ghters hired as a result of
bond funds and federal SAFER
grants.
• The overall proposed bud-
get of $8,126,476 represents a
2.26 percent increase over the
approved 2015-16 budget of
7,917,308.
budget gets
board nod
BY HERB SWETT
Of the Keizertimes
Final approval of the
2016-2017 budget for the
Salem-Keizer School came
at Tuesday’s School Board
meeting.
The $673,547,775 bud-
get refl ects a gain in pro-
jected revenue for the sec-
ond straight year after several
years of forced cuts in servic-
es. It involves a tax of $4,521
per $1,000 in assessed value
and $33,990,211 for bonds.
On other fi nancial matters,
the board approved grants
totaling $14,503,560. The
largest grant is $14,288,417
from the federal government
through the Oregon Depart-
ment of Education, to ensure
that schools in high-poverty
areas meet state academic
standards.
A CenturyLink grant in-
cluded $4,069 for iPads for
fourth-graders at Gubser El-
ementary School.
In other business, the
board heard the fi rst reading
of a lease with option to buy
a 1.3-acre property at 1115
Commercial Street NE for
various programs. The nego-
tiated price is $2,625,000, to
which about $77,000 in lease
payments will be applied. A
board vote on the proposed
lease is scheduled for a spe-
cial meeting June 28.
The board approved mod-
ifying a 2013-2017 agree-
ment with the Salem-Keizer
Education Association, in-
creasing the maximum insur-
ance premium contribution
by $35 per month to $1,220
per month.
Administrative
hirings
approved by the board
included those of four
assistant principals, but only
one for Keizer: Stephanie
Makjavich
at
Keizer
Elementary School.
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