Perrysburg fire fight smolders

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PERRYSBURG – Communication has deteriorated between the city’s administration and its firefighters over
the department’s minimum staffing levels.
The difficulties between the two groups are supported by an unfair labor practice charge filed with the
state on behalf of the firefighters.
The fire union has been at odds with city officials since a temporary reduction of the minimum shift from
five to four firefighters in March was made indefinite in May.
Pete Scarborough, president of the union, attended city council and committee meetings over the last few
months to warn of safety concerns for residents and firefighters under the reduction, with the group
also spreading messages on Facebook.
The charge filed last week with the State Employment Relations Board, obtained by the Sentinel-Tribune,
puts forth that Fire Chief Jeff Klein informed Scarborough and other employees that he would have ended
the reduction had they not "publicly posted its concerns and objections on Facebook."
"The chief’s actions and reasons for not restoring the minimum staffing levels to five people is
unlawful and retaliatory," the complaint states.
Scarborough said he and Klein spoke at length Friday but have not yet come to an understanding over the
matter.
"We talked for quite a while; we’re going to talk some more, probably Monday. … Labor and
management are both working to try to resolve this issue."
Klein confirmed this morning that the two have talked, but he declined to comment on the labor charge
levied by the union.
City Administrator Bridgette Kabat responded to the filing this morning.
"Hopefully it is just a difference of opinion and we can get it resolved. At the end of the day, I
don’t think it’s a major issue."
Staffing in the department is set at seven firefighters per day, and the minimum shift policy currently
states that as many as three of those employees can take time off before a replacement is scheduled.
Additionally, firefighters are called in when others respond to calls from the station.
During an interview Thursday before the labor charge became known, Klein and Kabat maintained that the
reduction to a four-person minimum was done safely, and that they continue to monitor at the direction
of Mayor Mike Olmstead whether fire and emergency medical services have been adversely affected.
"Our service hadn’t degraded, so we were staying the course. … We feel good about our
decision," Kabat said.
"Why would we do anything different if our service has not degraded?"
Klein said the reduction policy has been used over the years as the department’s overtime budget was
exceeded, eventually going back to a five-person minimum when the necessary savings were realized. Every
time, including the four or five times it was done last year, there have been no problems.
"That’s still the case," Klein said.
Kabat and Klein said they were taken back when the union took to Facebook rather than communicate their
concerns to Klein.
"This has really been a surprise for me, because I’ve always had an open door," Klein said.
"I can’t fix in the department what I don’t know."
The two sides both reported having little contact in the last few months before Scarborough and Klein met
Friday.
"I’m not quite sure what the motivation is, what the real concerns are with these individuals, but I
don’t think it’s genuine if they’re not going to the chief," Kabat said. "If they’re not going
to the chief and asking for a meeting to sit down and discuss particular calls, runs, and talk about
what transpired on those particular calls and runs, I don’t think it’s genuine.
"One has to question, why is that coming about now and it has never in the past."
Kabat said safety concerns were not brought up in the past, or during this reduction until it was
continued past May. Furthermore, she questioned why, if worried about safety for the public and those
working in the department, firefighters continue to schedule certain days off when they know it will
bring a shift down to four.
"Other people see that they’re at five and choose to come in and put in the vacation slip for the
same day. So if it’s all about safety, why are they choosing to do that?"
"It’s puzzling, because they’re saying one thing, but then they’re kind of reacting in a different
way," Kabat said.
Scarborough claims that service has been affected as measured by the department’s cardiac save rate, the
frequency at which responders are able to resuscitate someone whose heart has stopped. He said all
firefighters have different roles while administering CPR, and that doing so with four people compared
to five or six is less likely to help the patient.
Klein said last week there have been eight cardiac arrest runs this year, and that those situations are
each unique and difficult to evaluate. Most of those runs included five or six firefighters, and the one
patient who arrived at the hospital without a heartbeat after four firefighters responded would not have
had a different outcome had another been present.
"The way I read the report, it was one of those things that everything went well, everything went
smoothly, things were getting accomplished. And it just had the bad outcome. There wasn’t anything where
you could sit here and go, ‘If we had a fifth person, that fifth person could have done ventilations, or
they could have done this or they could have done that,’" Klein said.
Councilman Rick Rettig referenced the cardiac save rate during prepared remarks at a city council meeting
last week. He said he heard about from Scarborough and several other firefighters that they believed
service to citizens had suffered, and that he has not yet received information he requested regarding
how the decision was made to stay at a four-person minimum indefinitely.
"To me that’s the big question: Why all of a sudden are we changing when Chief Klein in the past has
argued for five?" Rettig said.

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