Wausau Fire Department Engine 1. MWC photo by Mike Leischner
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — Wausau’s Human Resources Committee is the latest to sign off on a plan to add as many as a dozen firefighters to the city’s ranks.
Fire Chief Bob Barteck says his department has watched the city grow around them over the last 50 years, while their ranks have remained flat.
“We have been stagnant for 52 years without hiring, and over that time we have continued to meet this community’s needs despite the massive hurdles in our way,” said Barteck. “Now, we have to correct this, and it will have to be a large course correction because there weren’t course corrections done at previous times along the way.”
Barteck adds that ideally a department such as his would go through an evaluation of staffing every decade or two, but that hasn’t happened.
The HR committee passed the motion on a unanimous voice vote. The plan was previously approved by the Public Health and Safety Committee, though that iteration called for nine additional staffers. Barteck says as he was crunching the numbers following the November PH/S meeting, he discovered that 12 additional employees would help keep overtime to a minimum by allowing more available vacation or medical leave flexibility.
“Our staff works a lot of overtime, and it’s just not popular at a certain point. [Our staff] wants to be home, they want to be with their families; enjoy their lives,” added Barteck.
The plan will also go to a future Finance Committee meeting before the City Council would get a look at it. Barteck says if it’s approved, he’d like to see the extra staffers on payroll by the end of 2024.
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