Chief reports call volumes and staffing shortfalls; new geofenced timekeeping kiosk to be rolled out

The Chief presented the monthly report and said the department had recorded 286 emergency calls year-to-date, with 57 calls in May. “End of May, we had a total of 286 emergency calls to town, 57 for the month of May,” the Chief said.

He warned that staffing levels decline in warm months and the department is seeing vacancies it will need to backfill; several applications are pending. “There's a tremendous amount of vacancies, and if that's gonna be the case, we're gonna have to backfill those vacancies,” the Chief said.

Separately, the Chief described rollout problems with a new geofenced timekeeping system. The department installed a kiosk near the apparatus bay for full-time, part-time and per-diem members; because the system is geofenced, members must be on-site to punch in unless granted exceptions. An invite email did not reach all users, and some members were locked out after attempting to log in. Manager privileges for Ashley and Kyla were initially nonfunctional; those privileges are being restored so managers can correct missed punches during the transition.

The board agreed to run the new system in parallel with existing timekeeping until all members are comfortable and manager functions are confirmed. The Chief noted month-one will likely require frequent manual time-sheet adjustments while staff learn the new process.