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Belleair Bluffs hires new fire chief
By WAYNE AYERS
| Article published on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 |
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BELLEAIR BLUFFS – The Belleair Bluffs Fire Department will soon have its own chief for the first time in seven years.
The City Commission voted unanimously at Monday’s meeting to hire Dunedin District Chief Patrick Competelli for the job.
The department has been under the administration of the Largo fire department since 2004. The last Bluffs chief, Joe Pidala, was fired in 2001. Recent turmoil within the Largo fire administration and the addition of EMS service to the Bluffs department prompted the city to once again consider having its own chief.
The commission agreed at last week’s workshop meeting to raise the pay offer to Competelli from $75,000 to $85,000. In a letter to City Clerk Debra Sullivan dated April 16, Competelli agreed to accept the position.
Competelli had been the recommended choice of the fire chief selection committee.
According to a letter written by Largo Fire Chief Michael Wallace, the committee chairperson, Competelli holds certifications as a fire officer, fire inspector, paramedic, and fire education instructor.
According to Wallace, Competelli “has local knowledge and is intimately familiar with the county EMS system and currently fills a part-time position with the Office of the Medical Director, Dr. Romig. He provides clinical oversight of field paramedics and was a past director of Quality Assurance for Pinellas County EMS.”
Competelli is slated to become the city’s fire chief on May 1.
Pay raises for city department heads on hold
Significant salary increases proposed for City Clerk Debra Sullivan and Public Works Director Robert David were put on hold Monday. The commission decided the issue needed further discussion after concerns were raised about the city’s financial uncertainties, and the pay for comparable positions in cities similar to Belleair Bluffs.
Commissioner Troy Krotz, who was not present at last week’s workshop meeting when the increases were discussed, called the pay hikes irresponsible, considering the city’s financial situation. A 15 percent increase had been recommended by Mayor Chris Arbutine, which he said would better reflect the increased scope of their job duties.
Krotz said the commission decided not to lower taxes to the state recommended level and is now talking about substantial salary increases for employees. He said the $68,000 recommended salaries would jump to over $80,000 within a few years, given expected increases.
Better data is also needed to compare salaries in similar communities, Krotz said. Information supplied thus far has been for large cities, where department heads could have many people reporting to them, he said.
Commissioners Hunt Brand and Robert Russo agreed that more evaluation of the salary increases is needed.
“We need to evaluate pay and job responsibilities so we compare apples to apples,” Brand said.
Russo said the pay hike decision should be put off for further discussion, but he was not rejecting the idea outright.
“We need to sit down and discuss this, but I want to see our people (properly) compensated,” he said.
Arbutine continued to defend the increases as the right thing to do. He said the commission should consider what he called a holistic approach to the issue and consider the uniqueness of the city.
“I have worked closely in the trenches with Debra Sullivan and seen her doing all kinds of things a city clerk would normally never do. How can they be factored into the equation properly?” he asked.
He said both Sullivan and David have taken on some city manager responsibilities.
Sullivan, Arbutine said, could “go to Seminole and just have to take notes and go to a meeting every once in a while. Robert David could just ride around in a truck and check on work being done.”
New street lighting costs questioned
A demand by Pinellas County that the city pick up the power costs for new decorative street lighting on West Bay Drive, a county-owned thoroughfare, was rejected by the commission.
Public Works Director David said the county is refusing to pay for electricity to operate the lights because they contain additional sockets that could be used for holiday lighting.
“There are individual sockets at each pole where we could plug in our own lighting,” David said. The decorative pole lighting is part of the causeway bridge project and will run from the boat ramp to Indian Rocks Road.
Commissioner David Shimkus said the county owns the road (West Bay) and should pay the costs of lighting it.
Russo agreed.
“Pay for your own lighting for your own road,” he said.
A proposed interlocal agreement between the county and the city on the lighting was amended to say the extra sockets will be removed along with the city’s obligation to pay for the electricity.
David was not optimistic that the proposed revisions would be accepted by the county.
“I’ve asked for 15 different things in this contract and didn’t get one,” he said.
New liaison assignments made
Commission liaison assignments were made for the new term. Shimkus and Brand will remain police and fire commissioners, respectively, while Russo assumes public works responsibility and Krotz takes on budget and finance.
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Article published on Wednesday, April 23, 2008
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