BY JIMMY LAWTON
North Country This Week

OGDENSBURG – Ogdensburg City Manager Stephen Jellie says the city will apply for a SAFER Grant to help offset costs at the fire department, but he will not increase the number of employees there.

The Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant comes from the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency and aims to help fire departments keep staffing at levels that allow them to meet industry standards.

A topic of debate in the city, Jellie believes current staffing levels meet those standards, while members of the fire union have been vocal in their disagreement with that belief.

“The SAFER Program accomplishes this by providing funding directly to fire departments and volunteer firefighter interest organizations to assist in increasing the number of firefighters to help communities meet industry minimum standards and attain 24-hour staffing to provide adequate fire protection from fire and fire-related hazards, and to fulfill traditional missions of fire departments,” FEMA’s website says.

And while the city will seek the grant, Jellie says it won’t be to fill positions above and beyond what the city has budgeted for the years.

“I’m not asking the government for something I don’t need and we don’t need more than 21 firefighters in the department,” he said. “I’m not going to ask for additional money for additional positions.”

The Ogdensburg Fire Department’s union has been calling on Jellie to seek the grants, which currently allow municipalities to fund positions through grants. They have contended that the city could use that money to keep staffing at 24 members, the number included in the contract between the city and union.

Last year the city did not apply for the grant, which could have been used to save the city a significant amount of money even if it did not use the funding to bolster job numbers. The city has taken a fair amount of criticism for not applying last year.

Currently, one firefighter remains laid-off, and Jellie has no intention of bringing him back until an opening occurs. He said that’s not scheduled to happen for at least two years unless another member takes advantage of early retirement incentives offered by the city as the two entities head toward arbitration.

“It’s par for the course on how he views emergency situations. He clearly thinks that redundancy is not a good thing. But in reality it’s completely necessary,” he said.

Bouchard says it’s upsetting that the firefighter is being used like a “hostage” for leverage in negotiations.

“They are going to keep blaming us for Jake Thornton not being here, when here lies a path to bring the last remaining hostage back to work. Because that’s how he is being treated,” he said.

Bouchard said he is glad that the city is seeking the grant and says it’s vital that the fire department help put it together.

“If Mr. Jellie is so inclined to apply for this grant we hope that he will enlist the help from some of our union members who have thousands of hours of experience,” he said.

Jellie says the city may have trouble securing the funding.

“One of the problems is you have to show there is financial hardship and right now with everything we’re doing I’m not sure that will come through,” he said. However, Jellie said with the city’s finances still well below where they need to be, he’s likely to be able to show that more cuts could be necessary if revenues decline or a major expense is incurred.

The grant application is due mid-March.