Grandview Heights’ fire chief told the Finance Committee the city needs to restore a deputy/assistant fire marshal role that has been vacant since early 2021.

The chief said the department currently has one fire marshal, Chris Everard, and that since Captain Hafey (the prior deputy) left in February 2021 the office has fallen behind on routine inspections. "We were several 100 of our annual inspections down that weren't happening," the chief said, adding that high life-safety occupancies such as schools and hotels should be inspected twice a year and the workload has outpaced the capacity of a single inspector.

Restoring a deputy would allow the fire prevention office to catch up on annual inspections, update preplans for high-occupancy buildings, and provide a succession path so the city is not overly dependent on a single employee, the chief said. Staff indicated the assistant fire marshal position is in the collective bargaining agreement and that the city will prepare a civil-service job description if council directs filling the role.

Next steps: staff will draft a job description to present through civil service and, if authorized by the bargaining process and budget, pursue filling the deputy/assistant fire marshal role.