'We will get things worked out on the overtime'

NORWALK — Norwalk Fire Chief Ron Luttrell said his department is doing the best it can considering the situation with its overtime. Last week Norwalk Mayor Dave Light said the department is still pushing the limits with overtime spending. Light said while every other department in the city has significantly pulled back on spending and overtime, the fire department's overtime is still over budget. He said hiring new firefighters also would not solve the problem, as the amount would end up similar to the overtime budget when considering health insurance. Light said he and safety-service director Mike White have been researching other municipalities and their fire departments, like Monroeville, Willard and Sandusky. He said he's asked the fire chief, Luttrell, to explore other options of staffing the fire department, like changing scheduling, using part-time employees or lower minimum staffing. "We're trying to be responsible with taxpayer's money," he said. "The overtime there is like a runaway freight train, we've got to reel it in." The city is looking at $1.4 million in deficit spending this year. "I want the best trained, best-equipped fire department we could have," Light said. "Norwalk stepped up in such a big way to build this new fire department. ... It's time for them to give back a little and help get this overtime down." Light said he's very fiscally responsible and raising any taxes would be his last resort. "We have some philosophical differences on some things," Luttrell said Monday morning. "Other than that I really don't have too much to comment on." Luttrell did say his department is unlike any other in the city because of its 24-hour shifts. "Our employees work almost 900 more hours a year than normal employees," he said. "It causes some problems with staffing and overtime. We are trying to keep the station staffed at four to meet the (national) standards." Luttrell was hired during the pandemic and has faced a number of situations. "For 2020 that was kind of a crazy year," he said. "They continued for over nine months paying a captain as acting fire chief. You take multiple guys off on surgery and sick time and another guy who was off over for over seven months on an on-duty injury. "We had guys off with COVID and that added up. We went back the last 10 years and we averaged $165,000 a year with overtime." Last year the department was north of $200,000 in overtime, Luttrell said. Other than the overtime issues, Luttrell said so far, so good with his new job. "The big thing is we are moving the department forward, trying to keep morale up and with COVID has been difficult," he said. "Whenever you come out of a winter like we had we want to be optimists and hope everything will be better in 2021. "We will get things worked out on the overtime ... we are confident of that." Luttrell and his wife, Shelly, have moved to Norwalk and are settling in with their new home. They have two children and two grandchildren with a third one on the way all living in the Cincinnati area. "We just saw them for the first time in seven months on Sunday," he said. "We were very excited to see all of them."