Grafton Council designates fire department positions as part-time after public objections

The Village of Grafton Council voted April 7 to adopt Ordinance No. 26-016, designating positions within the Grafton Fire Department as part-time and declaring an emergency so the change would take effect immediately.

The change followed a closed executive session and drew extended public comment from current and former firefighters. A resident who said he had served on the Grafton Village Fire Department for more than 20 years urged council not to revert the department to volunteer status, calling such a move "a step backwards for the fire department and for the members of this community." He told council many residents "are expecting and planning on this" staffing model and warned it could put people in danger.

Earlier in the meeting, Stephen Accord, a lieutenant at the North Ridgeville Fire Department who identified himself as a Grafton native, addressed council during public comment. He said response time is critical and argued that removing daytime staffing would sharply reduce survival chances. "Statistically speaking, this would give people a 0% chance of survival if they're in cardiac arrest," Accord said, adding that major trauma patients would also face greatly diminished odds if services relied on a more distant provider.

Law Director RJ Budway explained that the emergency designation is a procedural step that allows immediate effect rather than waiting through additional readings or a 30-day delay; suspension of rules is the step used when readings are being skipped. Councilmembers debated the ordinance language and whether it should explicitly limit part-time status to an acting chief while maintaining paid-on-call status for other members. After amendments and additional comment, Councilmember Romes moved to suspend the rules, declare an emergency and pass the ordinance; Councilmember McCort seconded and the motion carried with all members voting Aye.

The ordinance's passage coincided with earlier announcements that Fire Chief Glenn Thompson and Fire Inspector Joe DiVincenzo had resigned. Council also approved a personnel summary sheet later in the meeting that formalized staffing and compensation items.

The ordinance (No. 26-016) changes the village's official staffing designations; the law director indicated the change was drafted to take effect April 1 and was finalized with the emergency declaration on April 7. Council did not record differing vote tallies by name; the final vote was reported as unanimous. The Village did not provide a detailed implementation timeline in the meeting minutes, nor did staff present a quantified analysis in the public session of how the change would alter daily staffing levels or expected response-time metrics.