The Worthington City Council on Monday night approved amendments to the Worthington Fire Department Personnel Policy and standard operating guidelines for firefighters.
Worthington City Administrator Steve Robinson explained that members of the local fire department receive hourly pay for all emergency calls, training sessions and meetings that they attend. In addition, they are enrolled in a define benefit pension that has awarded $3,039.00 per year of active service upon retiring with a minimum of 20 years as a firefighter. A year of active service is defined as "rendered at least the minimum level of duties as specified and required by the fire department under the rules, regulations, and policies applicable to the fire department."
The Worthington Firefighter Personnel Policy now stipulates that firefighters are required to attend a total of 50% of department meetings and incident calls on a quarterly basis to qualify for pension service time. The Fire Department met on Jan. 23 and voted to amend the personnel policy to "Firefighters are required to attend a total of 40% of department meetings and incident calls on a quarterly basis." Council members approved this language on Monday.
In addition to that amendment, council voted to add language to the personnel policy that grants the city administrator authority to grant exceptions to the service call requirements in the case of exceptional circumstances. Robinson also noted that multiple city employees are members of the fire department.
Also Monday, council members approved a proposal from Midwest Alarm to furnish and install an integrated network video system at the fire station. They also approved preliminary and final plats for a commercial subdivision located along Bioscience Drive and west of U.S. 59.
