Kalispell trims fire position

The layoff of DC Haas as assistant fire chief for prevention is just the first of what is to come over the next couple of years in Kalispell city government.

Haas, who had worked with the Kalispell Fire Department for about three years, got the word on Dec. 1 that he would be on paid leave for the next month. In January he will be out of work.

“Layoffs are never pleasant. You try to do what you can to save the jobs,” City Manager Jane Howington said. But, she conceded, this was “a reduction in force. It’s part of a reorganization to try to help streamline [city operations] with our budgetary concerns. That’s one of the things I’ve been charged with.”

There will be more.

“The organization [of Kalispell government] after the next year or two will look quite a bit different,” Howington said. “The organization has to downsize and streamline.”

She will look into what can be provided by other government entities or private-sector organizations to meet the city’s needs.

“There’s a lot of other ways to provide services than to just have them here. Consolidation of dispatch is an example of what we’ve been working on,” she said.

It’s just one step in the overall streamlining of city government in general. When the biggest chunk of a budget goes to personnel — Kalispell Fire Chief Dan Diehl said payroll accounts for 87 percent of his budget — the most natural economy often can be people.

But layoffs are nobody’s first choice.

“Staffing changes come in a lot of different flavors,” Howington said.

Kalispell has seen a lot of attrition over the past few years, with jobs staying vacant since last year’s hiring freeze. This is the first layoff since Howington came to Kalispell in August.

“Layoffs are kind of a last resort,” she said.

The action came just two weeks after Howington appointed Diehl as the city’s new fire chief. He had been acting chief since Randy Brodehl left the post in summer 2008. Before that, Diehl was operations chief.

As assistant chief for prevention, Haas had been responsible for fire code inspections and public education.

“We’re trying to develop a plan to handle inspections,” Diehl said Tuesday.

The city building department will handle inspections for new construction, a streamlined process with one point of contact for all inspections that was announced earlier this fall. Gary Hoes, a former fire department inspector, has made the move to the building department.

For now, Diehl is handling fire-code issues that arise with existing buildings.

“The big thing is when somebody wants to talk to someone on the phone. I’m in during the day,” Diehl said. When a situation requires an on-site visit, he handles it or sends the request to an outlying engine company.

The public education component, such as speaking engagements and school visits, is being handled by shift workers.

Diehl said he saw the layoff coming.

“We had a tight budget here in the fire department. When I got here there was one person, then it built to two and then it built to three. As the economy stopped, we got rid of two inspectors,” he said.

“It’s unfortunate that you lose people like that. You don’t want to lose people like DC. But you’ve got to do what it takes to stay solvent.”

He said Kalispell’s ambulance service is following the national trend of fewer people relying on an ambulance to get to the hospital and more people not paying their ambulance bills after a call. With the ambulance accounting for 70 percent of what the fire department does and with its revenues budgeted to fund specific positions, the crunch is being felt.

To date in the 2009-10 fiscal year, the ambulance service is about $35,000 in the red, he said. The annual cost to operate the service is $827,000. The fire department budget separate from the ambulance is $2.31 million.

The department is funded at 34 positions right now, but Haas’ departure brings to four the number of vacancies that are going unfilled.

Diehl doesn’t anticipate more fire department cuts.

“We’re at bare bones right now,” he said. “We’re doing more with less.”

He said the operations chief position will be filled, and this morning he will be interviewing firefighter applicants. That will develop a list of qualified applicants.

But whether the budget will support actually hiring new workers remains to be seen.

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com