TO: Honorable Mayor & Members of the North Port Commission
FROM: Peter Lear, City Manager
TITLE: Sponsorship of Recruits for Fire and Police
Recommended Action
Authorize the City Manager to sign Sponsorship Agreements for Fire and Police Recruits.
Background Information
Both North Port Police and Fire Rescue have encountered difficulty in recruiting qualified applicants for vacant positions within their respective organizations. To attract and retain candidates for Police Officer and Firefighter/Paramedic vacancies, the departments are requesting to sponsor recruit candidates to attend academies for Police, Fire and Paramedic certifications.
Fire: For the past two years, City Commission has approved funding within the budget of Fire Rescue to sponsor and pay for the education of existing employees to attend Paramedic school. The present agreements call for the employee to remain employed with North Port Fire Rescue for a period of three years. Should they fail to pass the required State Certification or leave employment, they are required to reimburse the City the cost of their education based on a graduated three-year depreciation. The proposed agreements expand that program to allow us to recruit an individual and pay them a minimum salary while they complete the required education for employment. Paramedics who are not certified firefighters would be required to complete Fire School which will take from four to six months, while those who are certified Firefighter/EMT's would attend Paramedic School that would require twelve months to complete. It is Fire Rescue's intent to try to seek candidates for Recruit employment who are already in school, thus lessening the economic impact.
Police: Over the past several years, because of several factors such as changes in the retirement systems, the rebound of the economy and increased scrutiny of police actions, it has become increasingly difficult for police agencies to attract and retain qualified p...
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