COVINGTON, Ky. — The city of Covington has reversed course on a minimum staffing requirement for its fire department after operating with two fewer minimum staff for about 10 days.

City commissioners expressed disappointment with the fire chief for his guidance on the issue. And now that chief is stepping away from the department.

On Feb. 8, Covington City Manager Ken Smith directed Fire Chief Mark Pierce to implement a policy. On the days where a number of firefighters called in sick or were off, the department would work from a new minimum level of staffing — 26 instead of 28.

According to the city, fire department leaders expressed confidence this would cause only minimal disruption to service.

“In the last 10 days, we have been at our minimum 28, not 26, eight out of the ten days,” Smith said at a board of commissioners meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 26.

At the same meeting, the board rescinded the directive, telling the fire department to speed up efforts to fill five vacant positions, after some back and forth with Pierce.

“Yes or no, do we have the minimum staffing that we need to make sure that the firefighters are safe and our citizens are safe? Is the path we’re on the correct one, yes or no?” Commissioner Shannon Smith asked Pierce.

“No,” he responded.

“28 a day is the number. Now safety is in numbers,” Smith would go on to say. “The more people you have, the more efficient you can be.”

He continued, “28 would be optimal. But understanding what we have, we’ll do what we’re directed to do, and 26 would be the number.”

Commissioners said this differed from the advice Pierce had previously given them.

“It essentially means that you’re going to tell us one thing in private and another thing in public. And that challenged the trust that we have with the relationship,” said Commissioner Tim Downing.

Mayor Pro Tem Ron Washington also expressed disappointment.

“At no point did you say, ‘Commissioner, Ron, it’s unsafe.’ I mean, you didn’t, Mark. I mean, you didn’t. I mean, that’s your job. You got to tell us,” Washington said.

Since the directive to lower minimum staff to 26 was put in place, the Covington Professional Firefighters Local 38 posted multiple messages on social media, with one saying: “The city is reducing minimum daily staffing levels of your fire department to unsafe levels. On days where we are operating at a minimum of 26 or 27 firefighters, there will be response delays and reductions in services city wide.” 

Two days after the board meeting, the city announced Pierce was stepping down after six years of being fire chief for the purpose of retirement, effective March 31.

The release announcing the news said nothing of the staffing issue, but did include a quote from Pierce saying: “Wise people always told me ‘you’ll know when it’s time to leave,’ and that time has come.”

The city sent a statement to Spectrum News 1 on Friday saying:

“Contrary to rumors, the city hasn’t cut a single dollar from the fire department’s budget. The only change is that the city administration has been working with and continues to work with fire department command staff to figure out how to rein in unlimited, unscheduled overtime pay that — halfway through the fiscal year — has already exceeded its budget for the entire year by a significant amount for a second year in a row, costing taxpayers millions of dollars beyond the department’s budget.

Given the tightness of the overall City budget, these budget overages are simply unsustainable and thus City administrators continue to work with Fire Department leaders on long-term solutions.”

During the meeting, Pierce said there were multiple reasons unscheduled overtime was as high as it has been.

He said, at one point, the fire department had six long-term sick or injured firefighters.

“We have had sick time use, which is a benefit in the contract,” he said.

While the department’s staff had been budgeted for 123 firefighters, it had been operating at 119 “for a while,” according to Pierce.

Local 38 made another post following Tuesday’s meeting, thanking city leaders for raising minimum staff back to 28.

Now the city faces new challenges of finding ways to save on its budget and finding a new fire chief.

In fiscal year 2023, Covington taxpayers paid $1.34 million in unscheduled fire department overtime — $900,000 over budget for the year.