Neosho will have two more firemen than it would have, thanks to an agreement OK’d last week by the city council.
On Thursday, the council unanimously approved a deal with the Neosho Area Fire Protection District, giving the fire district the formal nod to pay to keep on duty two city firemen who were due to be laid off because of budget cuts. The agreement is good from now until the end of next fiscal year and is in the amount of $93,670, which includes the two annual salaries, as well as overtime and benefits. The firemen would still be employees of the city. Should they be laid off during the period of the contract, the deal would be terminated.
This keeps the total number of full-time city firefighters at 16, plus Fire Chief Mike Eads and two paid-on-call volunteers, though this number is about to drop with the retirement of Lt. John Edsell. There will continue to be five firefighters on duty any given shift, with one more fireman floating between shifts to cover any absences, according to Eads.
A direct result of retaining the two firemen is keeping Fire Station 2, located in the city's industrial park, open more often than it would have been otherwise, following a personnel reduction of nearly half.
“The chances of it closing are slimmer than they were,” Eads said.
He had previously said that Station 2 would shut down for the day whenever the number of firemen manning it fell below two, should someone call in absent.
Separately, Eads is also applying for a federal SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) grant that would provide for the rehiring of several other firefighters who were laid off recently. There is $420 million available in the fund. Eads recognized that competition was probably going to be stiff, but said he thought Neosho stood a good chance of being awarded a share of the grant money.
“We'll be given higher priority because of the fact of all the layoffs,” he said.
