By Brennan David, Columbia Daily Tribune (Missouri)

Columbia public safety departments in need of more staff will continue to wait for additional funding, the city’s recent budget proposal indicates.

Of the 16 new positions in the proposed budget for fiscal year 2013, none is dedicated to a public safety department. That includes police, fire, joint communications, emergency management and the municipal court.

Some staffing needs related to safety that have been brought to the public’s attention over the past two years remain unfunded. In one example, the Columbia Fire Department continues to under-staff one of its fire stations as a result of a shortage dating to the completion of Fire Station No. 9 in 2009. In addition, Public Safety Joint Communications has indicated a significant need for more staff to operate its 911 dispatch facility.

“We’ve seen an increase in response times. They have trended upward,” Columbia fire Battalion Chief Brad Fraizer said. “It’s very likely due to our resources being spread out.”

The fire department’s goal is an average response time of 6 minutes and 30 seconds. However, it has seen times increase since 2009, when the average was 6 minutes and 57 seconds. In 2010, it rose to 7 minutes and 2 seconds, and 2011 saw an average of 7 minutes and 12 seconds.

Firefighters reached their target destinations within the desired time of 6[1/2] minutes about 45 percent of the time in 2009, 44 percent in 2010 and 40 percent in 2011.

Since the opening of Fire Station No. 9, the department has at times transferred a company and truck from Station No. 2 at 1212 W. Worley St. to the newer station at 201 Blue Ridge Road to meet staffing needs.

Other factors in longer response times include more calls for service and greater traffic, Fraizer said.

Station No. 10, funded through a 2005 Capital Improvement Sales Tax, will not be built until additional staffing is budgeted for Station No. 9 and the new station. The sales tax in 2013, however, will fund two new trucks totaling $1.69 million, plus other fire department equipment. Siren upgrades, an ongoing project, also are budgeted.

Meanwhile, joint communications needs more call takers and dispatchers, according to a recent organizational review. Interim manager Joe Piper estimated it would take 15 more workers to staff three new positions around the clock, in what he termed a “quick fix.”

He said he requested five new personnel to fill one of the three positions, but that was denied. City Manager Mike Matthes could not be reached for comment.

“We’re receiving more complaints about long waits,” Piper said. “We do our best with what we have, but we are eventually going to miss something.”

A single fire or medical call can tie up 40 percent of the dispatch staff for several minutes, Boone County Sheriff Dwayne Carey said previously, after reviewing the office’s needs. And accidents usually generate multiple calls because most people carry cellphones. Dispatchers might be tempted to rush through the current call to help the next, leading to reduced customer service and a greater potential for error, Carey said.

Although Columbia police did not request or receive new personnel in the proposed budget, the department is slated to be assigned a new attorney working under the city’s law department.

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