HAGERSTOWN ? After postponing a decision late last year to hire nine firefighters at a cost of almost $535,000, the Hagerstown City Council is to revisit the issue today during a regularly scheduled work session.
In December, the council tabled a proposal to hire the firefighters when City Administrator Bruce Zimmerman and City Finance Director Alfred E. Martin suggested to wait until the city's upcoming financial projections were more solid. Martin said city officials needed to know, among other things, whether the Maryland General Assembly would cut state aid to municipal governments.
Councilman Lewis C. Metzner said Monday he had made up his mind to hire the firefighters. The new hires would bring staffing up to the minimum standard of allotting each firetruck with at least two firefighters, he said.
Depending on the shift, the Hagerstown Fire Department now averages one to two firefighters per truck, Metzner said. Ideally, the city should have three firefighters per truck.
