Chief Agosto he had a quick question regarding the incident two nights
ago. The Allentown Fire Department did a magnificent job. The EMTs and
everyone involved in public safety. Thank you. The position of the Deputy
Fire Chief that is detailed in here and asked if he could please elaborate.
He stated that he is just curious how that would have affected if they would
have had that position two nights ago.
Chief Efrain Agosto stated that right now one of the biggest concerns that
they had especially last night, is that they did not have an individual to be
able to perform the duties of PIO in the fire department. Right now, they
have the Captain of Pubic Affairs and have not been able to fill that
position. Even with the combined Deputy Chief and the Emergency
Management Coordinator would allow them to draw from somebody within
the fire department that is more aware and more available and
understanding of what the city and how the city operates versus hiring
someone from the outside to fill that vacancy. Plus, it would provide them
with another administrative role that would come into the offices and
provide more administrative assistance with the 146 employees that they
deal with within their department. He stated that last night was a tough
night. It is one of those things where he doesn't think anybody truly
understands how important that role between PIO, EMC and Deputy Chief
is to this department and to the city as they continue to grow and continue
to move forward with this department. Right now, they have been asking
for this for many, many years. He goes back to every time they go to the
budget presentation and he talks about 1975, there was one Fire Chief and
two Deputy Chiefs. This is not asking about a new position. He continues
to state the same exact thing over and over again. This is about restoring
the use of when it was active back in 2006 when Bobby Scheirer who
eventually became fire chief actually took over that role and some how or
another got eliminated by the previous administration previous to the
O'Connell administration. He stated that he is not asking for something
new, he is asking for a position to be restored to continue to help
administer what they need to administer throughout the department and
provide the services that they continue to provide to the city even being
shorthanded as they are. He stated that he is always thankful and grateful
that Council has provided the opportunity to for for the SAFER Grant and
add it to the firefighters and staff here. He stated that they are still short
then where he started when they had 150 firefighters on the department
and they are still short one administrative position that should have never
been taken away.
Ms. Vicky Kistler stated that she will also like to add if she may that all of
them in the cabinet fully understands Council's concerns about budgetary
issues and concern about how they are going to move collectively together.
Please know that in putting this together, they are doing their best to cut as
many expenses as they can and to align positions to add other duties to
them in order to get work done without adding positions. She stated that
she knows that it may not always feel that way when they have repetitive
