Politics & Government
Corte Madera Fire To Add New Hire
While most cities are cutting back everywhere, Corte Madera is actually increasing the Fire Department budget to fill post that's been vacant for the past two years.
The Corte Madera Fire Department is hanging out the "Now Hiring" sign.
Fire Chief Roger Sprehn got the go-ahead on Tuesday to hire a new firefighter, bringing the department up to full capacity for the first time since December 2010.
"One of our firefighters retired then. The budget was extremely dire and we elected not to fill the position. We realized a little bit of savings from that decision," Sprehn said. "We've gotten to the position now that we're filling that position with overtime almost all the time. In doing a comparison between the overtime costs of a tenured employee and the regular costs of a new employee we're at the break-even point. It would improve our overall service by adding another firefighter to the department."
Sprehn asked the Corte Madera Town Council for an addition $96,000 to cover the cost of the new hire.
The Corte Madera Fire Department is also filling a new vacancy created when one of its employees left for a job in San Rafael.
The Corte Madera Fire Department has a shared services agreement with the Southern Marin Fire District, but both agencies have been operating with gaps in their ranks, according to Sprehn.
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