Does the Portsmouth Fire Department spend too much on overtime for its department? That was the question raised by the Portsmouth Town Council Monday evening at Town Hall. 

Councilor Judi Staven requested the meeting be held between the fire union and town council due to the costs spent on overtime so far this fiscal year. 

According to Staven, the amount spent for overtime is currently $175,095.52, more than half of the $319,000 budgeted for overtime this fiscal year. "If this continues, the overtime budget will be double what is allocated," she said. "… I believe it's way too much overtime." 

Should overtime talks be public or private? 

A good portion of Monday's meeting involved discussing whether or not the meeting should be held in executive session. 

Portsmouth Fire Chief Jeffrey Lynch was the first to question whether or not the meeting should be held in public. 

"I thought this was going to be in executive session," Lynch said. 

"The contract is public; it's been approved upon. I see no reason to go into executive session," Staven said. 

The firefighters union later agreed to show their presentation in open session. About an hour later, the council voted to enter executive session with the union to discuss more specific items of the current contract. 

Portsmouth firefighters' union gives presentation

Howie Tighe, president of Local 1949, the Portsmouth firefighters' union, gave a presentation before the council Monday night.

The union's current, three-year contract went into effect on July 1, 2010.

At the time of the contract, the budget funded salaries for 33 firefighters. Currently, the department is budgeted for 35 firefighters; 32 are currently working or on staff, Lynch said. 

Staven questioned if the minimum manning was raised after the contract was approved. 

"From what I read in the memorandum of agreement, you weren't supposed to raise the minimum manning," Staven said. 

"From my understanding, the concessions given from the union (in health and pension) … was to be put into staffing," Lynch said. 

Union says Portsmouth Fire Department is understaffed

According to Tighe, the issue now is not the overtime spent, but a shortage in workers. The department is currently short three people, which puts a strain on the department. 

"The problem is ... we've been three people short and the town has never been prepared to hire someone when someone gives their notice. This is not a criticism of the town's policy. It's part of the testing process," he said. 

"We're in that cycle right now where there's eight to nine guys eligible to retire ... We're short staff now, and you have the potential of these guys leaving in the next year." 

According to Tighe, a fully staffed department has been considered 35 positions since 2002, nearly 10 years. 

"His (Lynch) concerns are that we never have enough people," Tighe said. "We're the busiest department compared to anyone compared to us. We have not been fully staffed since this contract went into effect."

Multiple incidents and too few firefighters

The union president also stressed a current, increasing problem — multiple emergency calls occurring at the same time. 

In the 2010-2011 fiscal year, Portsmouth firefighters responded to 3,177 "incidents," an average of nine per day. 

Of those 3,177, 510 involved two incidents at the same time; in 151 instances, there were three simultaneous incidents; and in 33 instances, there were four incidents or more at the same time, according to the union. 

Councilor Paul Kesson criticized the use of the term "incidents," which he said wasn't defined thoroughly enough. "It could have been a missed called and treated like a train wreck," he said. 

"If we have more than two incidents, we have exhausted our workforce and we're relying on mutual aid," Lynch said. "We are seeing an increase." 

Lynch described a truck fire several weeks ago on Cory's Lane. Due to multiple calls, he was required to respond and help fight this blaze. 

"About two weeks ago, I loved it, but I had to put my gear on and help pull the hose with the captain because we had two ambulances out," Lynch said. 

Combining dispatch services with police 

Joe Robicheau asked about combining dispatch services with the police department.

"As I recall with [Police] Chief [Lance] Hebert, there are some policy problems. The civilian dispatch wouldn't work cost effectively with the police," Jim Seveney said.

"I would like to hear from Chief Hebert. It's not really on the agenda," Pedro said. 

The council dropped this discussion and later voted to enter executive session with the union.