Hugo takes ‘big step’ toward full-time fire chief

BY SHANNON GRANHOLM MANAGING EDITOR

HUGO — The City Council included funds in the 2023 budget to allow for a full-time fire chief, and that may just happen.

The council has directed city staff to move forward with creating a job description, position profile and salary structure for the position, which will ultimately need to be approved by the council.

“This has been a discussion that we have been having now for quite some time,” said City Administrator Bryan Bear. Mayor Tom Weidt added, “This is a big decision that we have been wrestling with for quite a while. It is a decision that you never know exactly when the right time is… I certainly want to be on the side of history of doing it when it is a little early rather than too late.”

Fire Chief Jim Compton Jr. said that he is the fourth fire chief to bring the need of a full-time chief forward to the council.

Back in March, the city created a subcommittee to discuss organizational changes within the Hugo Fire Department and whether there was a need to hire a full-time chief.

Currently, the fire department operates as a part-time, paid-on-call department with no full-time staff.

The subcommittee consisted of Mayor Weidt, Council Member Mike Miron and five representatives from the fire

$5 OFF ANY purchase of $25 or more department. A couple of firefighters assisted with surveying the firefighters and gathering research for the committee.

Bear explained the subcommittee considered five options:

• Keeping things as they are

• Sharing services (with neighboring departments/cities)

• Hiring a full-time chief

• Doing more (adding more services)

• Improving response time by converting to a full-time department.

The committee spent the most time on the keeping things as they are option or hiring a full-time chief, Bear said. Some concerns raised by firefighters for keeping the department the way it is revolved around availability and time commitment. There was a concern the department could handle nonemergencies that were administrative in nature.

“We have done a good job over the years spreading out the work to 11 different positions on the department. All of our fire officers are doers, and give it their all until they can’t. Then unfortunately the time comes and something has to give, and we typically loose good people due to the amount of work they are tasked with,” Compton Jr. explained. He added, “Our department does a great job at responding to emergency calls, and the scheduled things we do. It’s the unexpected things that come up that

SEE FIRE CHIEF, PAGE 6