To the Editor:

How cruel do you have to be to simply dismiss the legitimate concerns of firefighters and an affected family, along with a financial solution on bringing firefighter Jake Thornton back to work? He’s now the only Ogdensburg city employee still laid-off. And for no good reason.

At this past Monday’s city council meeting, the city manager and councilors were provided a financial justification for bringing Jake back to work, listened to a heartfelt plea from Jake’s wife Brittany, and even had a call-in supporter of theirs say that Jake should be brought back.

So why no response from city officials? The city manager has repeatedly asked for others to give him answers or solutions, if they have them. When one was presented on Monday, to pay for bringing Jake back, it seemingly fell on deaf ears.

Three pages of financial information were presented to council members on Monday, along with a letter describing how Jake’s return can easily be covered financially.

1. A page from the City’s 2021 budget that shows the total salary expense of $1,479,028 for 21 positions on the fire department.

2. A page listing the salaries of the 21 members who are currently active, along with the addition of Jake Thornton’s salary ($46,574). The total of the 22 salaries is $1,454,574, which is $24,551 less than has been budgeted for 2021.

3. A page that shows the projected total cost (salary and benefits) for Jake in 2021 of $91,022.

So there’d still be a shortage of $19,897 to cover all the remaining costs (benefits) listed for Jake. But that shortage is easily made up by the savings to the city for no longer having to pay unemployment for Jake and not having to pay hazard pay to one shift on the fire department.

Hazard pay is currently being paid to the five members of the shift Jake would return to. Those five members are all receiving $3 more an hour. That equates to paying $31,200 a year if it were to continue. Bringing Jake back would cause the hazard pay to cease on that shift, because they would then have the required six members assigned.

In conclusion, there’s more than enough financial justification to bring Jake Thornton back to work. The city invested in him, training and equipping him as both a firefighter and an EMT, but he remains laid-off. What sense does it make to take the chance of losing that investment if he moves on? Especially when bringing him back is easily covered financially. Also, why be so cruel as to leave him laid-off unnecessarily when he has a family to support and can help keep city residents safe? There’s no good reason.

Ron Bouchard

Ogdensburg