Susanville will consider consolidating its police and fire chief positions into one public safety officer position.
City Administrator Dan Newton said this is solely up for consideration for consolidating the administrative duties of these positions and not the operational roles; those would continue to exist within each department.
Newton also added that there is no driving factor to consolidate the chief positions. Still, since both have been vacated concurrently due to retirement, it presents an opportune time to consider the change.
The council will discuss the three proposed new positions: a Public Safety Chief, an Administrative Captain for the fire department, and a police officer. This would effectively eliminate the Positions of Fire Chief and Police Chief and require the reclassification of several other roles within the departments.
Per staff reports, the change would have a “Moderate cost increase” due to the additional staff position.
The council will discuss this item on Wednesday, December 6th, at City Hall at 5 pm.
