NFD study: need more guys

The Norwood Board of Selectmen met on Tuesday evening at the Norwood Town Hall with the Norwood Fire Department (NFD) and consultant Jack Parow to discuss staffing shortages at the department.

But before that, Selectmen Vice Chair Bill Plasko offered a few words for late NFD firefighter Edward Williamson, who passed away the previous week.

“Ed was kind to everyone he ever met, he was a true firefighter, he worked, even after his retirement, following anything that had to do with Norwood Fire,” he said. “There is no doubt at all, if he was still with us he would be here with us today. I just want to acknowledge Ed’s kindness and devotion, which left a lasting impression on all of us who knew him. He was a true role model and someone to admire. Thank you, Ed, for your time with us.”

Go to page 8 for Williamson’s full obituary.

As far as the staffing study, the big takeaway is that since 2020, the NFD has taken on 33 percent more work and calls, but has not seen any staffing increase.

“They’re doing 33 percent more work with the same amount of staffing that they have,” he said.

Parow said currently, the department’s 65 full-time personnel work with 15 firefighting staff per shift to operate all of the department’s vehicles and functions during calls;, however he pointed out that the minimum staffing requirements for the Town’s fleet and operations is 14 per shift. He said that’s dangerous territory, as when someone is sick, injured, on leave, or out for other reasons, shifts have to be extended to cover the station (which requires 24/7 staffing).

He said the other issue is that there is virtually no time for training, and while firefighters can do some training on their shifts, most of the time if they are interrupted by a call, they can’t pick up where they left off and have to restart the program.

The bottom line? Parow recommended hiring 12 additional firefighters/medics and promoting four firefighters to the rank of lieutenant to cover the gaps. He said this would cost the Town a total of $1,320,000. “But that’s just for the staffing,” Town Manager Tony Mazzucco said, “with estimated benefits and other ancillary costs, it’s more like $1.9 million."

Mazzucco said there were a few financing options for this. The first, which he said he didn’t recommend, was either using free cash to cover the balance – which has been a hot topic lately because of the $7 million or so structural deficit in the current budget – or dedicate the new growth of the Town to the purpose of hiring new firefighters, which he said amounted to the same thing.

“So do we book that new growth into the budget, specifically for these items?” he said. “That being said, that would reduce the amount of free cash, so sort of running things around in a circle with no real difference. But technically it is a difference with no real distinction.”

Mazzucco said the other option is to flow it into an operational override, which is expected to be seriously discussed for the fiscal years 27/28 and/or 28/29. He said it would be an “override contingent” line item on the budget for this coming May, with an expected override vote in June.

He said for the average house in Norwood, it would be an annual tax increase of $110 .

“The monthly tax impact would be about $10,” he said.

Plasko said he wanted to get into the nitty gritty details of the report, and the Board agreed to a tentatively-scheduled meeting on it in January. The Board voted unanimously 4-0 (Selectman Michael Saad was absent due to illness) to accept the report.

While NFD Chief Timothy Bailey was there, the Board also voted unanimously 4-0 to increase ambulance rates by 5 percent.

Also at the meeting, Selectman Matthew Lane announced he would not be seeking reelection this coming spring.

Advertisement

“I just wanted to formally say in the spring I won’t be seeking reelection, and it’s been really fun but we can talk about it later,” he said.

Plasko and Selectman Bob Donnelly accepted his sentiment for now, observing Lane’s conflicting commitments to the Board, his work and his young family. But they both said they would try to change his mind.

“I hope we can influence a different decision but now is not the time for that,” Donnelly said.

“There will be time to discuss your announcement at a later date, and we will do that,” Plasko said.

Lastly, Town Planner Sarah Dixon came by to go over the Norwood Comprehensive Plan with the Board as part of the Comprehensive Plan “Road Sshow”, where representatives have been going to all the elected and appointed public boards to solicit input and raise awareness. Dixon said they have been working to elicit feedback from residents. She said they have had just over 2,000 engagement points – which is the number of times any resident has given feedback, and can include more than one response from the same person – which is 1,000 below the plan’s stated goal.

She said residents can go to plan’s website to fill out the Town’s survey to help at: https://tinyurl.com/yf8jc5tu

There are also two public meetings coming up; one regular meeting of the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee at 7 p.m. at the Norwood Senior Center on what date?, and an open house on Jan. 12 at 7 p.m. at the Morrill Memorial Library.