ENGLEWOOD, N.J.—A more than $600,000 federal grant was awarded to Englewood Sept. 16 to hire four new firefighters—substantially short of 15 firefighters originally hired by the city this year and then terminated due to budget concerns before the firefighters could begin Fire Academy training in early April.
City Council members were uncertain Sept. 17 of what exactly the grant included, and Council President Katharine Glynn said interim Borough Administrator Jewel Thompson-Chin needed to get more details on the new grant funds before commenting further.
Due to a pending lawsuit against the city by nine would-be firefighters terminated in April, members were hesitant to speak about the grant funds and if and when the funds might become available to hire new firefighters.
According to people familiar with firefighter operations, the department remains short-handed and an approved 2019 city budget has more than doubled firefighters’ overtime to nearly $1 million in 2019’s budget.
Nine suing city
After the 15 firefighters were hired and then fired before starting the academy, attorney Michael Prigoff filed a complaint against Englewood—representing nine of the 15 firefighters—alleging breach of contract, breach of conditional offers of employment and racial discrimination.
In early August, he amended the complaint to add “wrongful termination” because the nine firefighters were terminated without providing advance written notice, a chance for a hearing, and terminations were not based on “just cause.”
The case against the city is in “discovery” with both sides requesting documents, data, and interviewing witnesses.
‘Unapproved budget’
Then-City Manager Ed Hynes cited an unapproved city budget in emails to 15 firefighters rescinding all employment offers.
The firefighters’ lawsuit alleges that prior to Hynes’ email rescinding employment offers, a group representing city African American firefighters, and others, “called upon the governing body to discard the appointment list, as they claimed that the candidates scheduled for appointment, including all of the plaintiffs, were neither residents of Englewood nor were African American.”
Prigoff cited a residency preference ordinance approved May 21 by City Council, noting the terminations and adoption of a residency preference law “were done with the intention of removing and preventing the re-appointment of plaintiffs because of their race [Caucasian and Hispanic] and with the intent to appoint African American candidates in their place,” states the lawsuit.
2018 residency stats
A Northern Valley Press analysis of city employee data in 2018 revealed 20 of 107 police employees (19 percent) were city residents as were 19 of 57 fire department employees (33 percent).
A press release from U.S. Congressman Bill Pascrell’s office notes the $607,658.00 federal grant from Homeland Security’s Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) program was to hire four Englewood firefighters.
New firefighters
“The city will use these funds for the addition and training of new firefighters,” said the Pascrell press release, which links to Pascrell’s letter of support for city firefighter grant funds.
Pascrell’s April 1 letter to Homeland Security’s SAFER program administrator notes the city fire department is “in dire need of funding in order to fill four firefighter positions.”
“Since 2015, 14 firefighters have retired, and the city plans to recoup this loss with the hiring of 11 firefighters. Yet due to recent budgetary constraints, the city needs federal funds to hire four more to have 59 sworn members in total, as per the table of organization approved by Englewood City Council in order to ensure optimal response time and effectively protect the citizens and infrastructure of Englewood,” notes Pascrell’s support letter.
Pascrell’s letter points out emergency services “have been hamstrung to a point of great concern” forcing staff to work overtime and leaving responding engines to carry only three firefighters, below the four recommended by industry experts.
The letter specifically notes the four additional firefighters would allow the department “to properly respond to calls from the Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, a 352-bed community hospital…if awarded the funding, the fire department will be given the necessary resources to maintain a strong firefighting unit,” wrote Pascrell.
‘Faster response times’
“Not only are these positions required to bring greater compliance to National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) regulations 1710 and 1720, but the additional workforce will greatly help with faster response times to those who are in distress,” Pascrell wrote.
“The urgency for the city of Englewood’s safety cannot be overstated, because 15 years after the [department] increased minimum staffing it remains one of the lowest staffed departments in the county,” Pascrell wrote.
Prigoff charges that the city’s residency preference ordinance—passed after the would-be firefighters were terminated—is illegal because it denies promotions to non-residents already on the job in favor of residents and harms his plaintiffs who passed an exam and were top scorers on an approved hiring list.
It was unclear whether city officials will use the hiring list from 2016’s firefighter exam or schedule a new exam to hire the four grant-funded firefighters.
Grant ‘a necessity’
Kevin Wilson, president, Jabari Society of Bergen County, and an Englewood firefighter for nearly 30 years, said the SAFER grant funding “is well intended and it’s for well-needed manpower to protect the city. If we could get more firefighters out of it, that’s certainly a necessity,” he said.
Asked if the previous 2016 firefighter exam list should be used or a new exam given, Wilson said the existing list should be used but with complete transparency of candidate scores.
He said he has been pushing for more transparency of scores on the city firefighter exam for years so all candidates know where they stand.
Due to pending litigation, city officials have not said how or when new firefighter candidates will be selected.
Wilson agreed that the staffing called for in Pascrell’s letter—59 sworn members—would be optimal staffing for the department. He said now there are 36 firefighters on four different shift rotations.
Both Mayor Michael Wildes and councilman Charles Cobb mentioned the new federal funding at the Sept. 17 council meeting—and pending litigation affecting it—but Cobb criticized the mayor for posting about the new funding without first alerting council members.
Pascrell’s office released a press release online Sept. 12, featuring quotes praising Pascrell’s SAFER funding efforts from Wildes and city Fire Chief Erik Enersen.