Effective April 11 Piedmont & Albany Share Fire Chief
The Piedmont and Albany City Councils have approved a one-year trial agreement to share a Fire Chief position. Each city will bear 50% of the cost, $133,376 per year for Piedmont’s current Fire Chief Edward Tubbs. The agreement was inspired by the similar relationship between San Bruno and Millbrae.
The total $267,000 cost for the position includes $176,000 salary and $91,000 benefits. The arrangement is projected to save Piedmont $111,300 and Albany $85,370, during the trial one-year period, compared with the projected costs if each community had its own Fire Chief. Each will have a Fire Chief for approximately 20 hours per week . It is anticipated that some training and equipment purchases will also be merged.
Small communities throughout the United States have long had joint fire districts. The idea of sharing a Fire Chief between separate fire districts is a much newer idea. Sharing arrangements typically arise when one community’s Fire Chief retires or resigns. Local examples encouraged Piedmont’s consideration of a sharing arrangement with Albany. There has been shared Fire Department administration and training in the adjacent communities of San Bruno and Millbrae since 2008. In 2010 San Mateo and Foster City also began sharing a Fire Chief. In Marin County, Corte Madera is in discussion with the Southern Marin Fire Protection District (SMFPD), which currently serves Alto-Richardson Bay, Tamalpais Valley, Almonte, Homestead Valley, Strawberry, about one-third of the town of Tiburon, and the City of Sausalito. A shared Fire Chief position did not work out for Fremont and Union City.
That is an outrageous salary given the small town even @ 50%. Wish we could vote on salaries for all City employees.