A Myrtle Point City Council decision on Monday paves the way for city savings on paramedics' overtime pay. The solution: Merge the fire and ambulance departments into one entity, allowing paramedics to receive added benefits instead of overtime hours.

The decision to join the two departments together made sense to Myrtle Point Interim City Manager Randy Whobrey, since both organizations already share common personnel as well as the station at the intersection of Maple and Fourth streets.

“I see this concept as a formalization of how the departments are currently operating,” Whobrey wrote in his staff report. “The idea has been around for quite some time. We are just opening another chapter.”

Fire Chief Dan Gardner will be assigned overall supervision of the two departments, while Ambulance Director Cheryl Houston will maintain all of her existing duties. Houston, who is on vacation until Oct. 18, was not at the Monday night meeting, but both Gardner and Whobrey indicated she is in support of the move.

Under the existing system, paramedics receive overtime pay after accruing 40 hours during the work week. Should the two departments be consolidated, paramedics certified as firefighters would be paid as firefighters, who do not receive overtime pay until 53 hours have been reached. Instead of time and a half pay, the certified paramedics would be eligible for retirement benefits reserved exclusively for firefighters. According to city staff, the incentive appears to be popular in the station.

“Everyone is on board with this,” Gardner said.

According to the staff report, since July 1, the department's two full-time paramedics have collected 59 overtime hours, amounting to $1,563. Whobrey attributed most of the overtime hours to ambulance runs to Eugene and Portland when paramedics are on duty for long stretches of time. Given that rate of accumulation, he expected an additional $4,000 in overtime for those two employees alone the rest of the fiscal year.

“We still need to examine additional costs that might crop up from combining the two departments, such as looking at added compensation for Dan, but our best projections suggest, over the long run, we would save money,” Whobrey said.

In general, the council was in favor of consolidating the two departments. Councilor Joe Bouska asked if the city would consider raising ambulance user fees and Councilor Denise DeWald wanted to make sure the fire chief would not be overburdened by the additional tasks.

“It is not nearly as overwhelming as when I took over as fire chief,” Gardner responded.

Otherwise, the councilors mainly wanted to know why the program had not been instituted earlier.

According to Whobrey, the issue was initially broached several years ago but never gained traction.

Aside from crunching salary compensation numbers for various employees, the budgetary impact will be insignificant because each department receives funds from separate sources, which cannot be commingled. Whobrey drew an analogy to the Public Works Department, which comprises water, sewer, streets and public works budgets, all of which receive separate funding that can not be shared.

“Continuing the current budget funds will allay any concern over how the funds are spent and will not add any administrative cost to the combined departments,” Whobrey said.

Following the unanimous recommendation of the council, city staff will begin work on developing a new budget structure for next April's budget hearings.

Coquille's fire and ambulance departments already have been combined. According to North Bend Fire Chief Scott Graham, Coos Bay and North Bend hire ambulance service from a private company.

In other action Monday night: Whobrey announced the pavement restoration work on Eighth Street will be halted in order to prepare for impending winter weather. The existing traffic lights at the Harris and Spruce street intersections, which are on a timer system, will be replaced by motion detector models during the pause.

The project, which is under the purview of the Oregon Department of Transportation, is scheduled to resume in April.