City to apply for FEMA SAFER staffing grant and Fire Prevention & Safety grant, council says

The council voted to authorize the fire chief to submit two federal grant applications: a FEMA SAFER staffing grant intended to add eight firefighters (two per shift) to support the department's move toward expanded EMS coverage, and a FEMA Fire Prevention & Safety grant to support smoke-detector distribution and installation, investigation equipment and community risk-reduction programming.

Scott Gilroyo, the city's Fire Chief, said the SAFER staffing request ‘‘equates to $2,500,000 over 3 years’’ and that the current program round is a zero-match grant, meaning the grant would not require a local cost share for personnel costs. "It's a 0 match grant, so we do not have to cost share anything," Gilroyo said. He cautioned the council that overtime costs above regular shifts would remain a municipal responsibility if they occur.

On the prevention grant, Gilroyo described plans to purchase smoke detectors for distribution and installation, buy digital cameras and other equipment to support investigations, and create education programs targeted at high-risk housing such as senior independent living complexes. He said the prevention grant carries a 5% local cost share and that he planned to keep any departmental cost-share modest: "I don't want to do anything more than 50,000," he said when discussing cost-share limits.

Councilors approved motions to submit both grant applications; the transcript records the approvals by voice vote but does not include detailed roll-call tallies. The chief said FEMA award decisions for the SAFER grant would be evaluated in June with awards by September 30, and, if awarded, hiring would follow a typical 60-to-90-day recruitment and vetting process with potential onboarding around Jan. 1 following award.