KOTA Territory NewsSheridan fire chief tells mayor to eliminate his job

Sheridan fire chief tells mayor to eliminate his job

It's not often a high-ranking city employee recommends his job be eliminated.

But that's exactly what a KOTA Territory fire chief did last week in a letter to the mayor. 

"When I started in '05, we had 30 folks on the line," said Sheridan fire chief Patrick Reitz.

That has since been cut in half.

"We're confined to the 12 square miles of the city," he said. "We're looking at running between 600 and 800 calls a year."

Compared to the 3,000 calls the department received when it included Sheridan County.

Sheridan Fire-Rescue also lost the EMS service last year when the city gave the contract to a private company to cut expenses.

"Given the size of the department, the change in the mission over the last year, it just doesn't make any sense to have the amount of overhead that we currently have," Reitz said.

"Chief Reitz came to the conclusion and gave the mayor his recommendation that his position be eliminated," said City Councilor John Bigelow. 

Bigelow noted Mayor Dave Kinskey accepted the recommendation. 

Reitz said nothing is going to change about the day-to-day operations of the department.

Division chief Terry Lenhart is simply going to take over some of the administrative duties as interim chief.

So what's different? Money.

"Well, obviously," Bigelow said, "we're going to be saving one person's salary."

"You're looking at $110-$120,000 with benefits," said Reitz.

Which he admitted might not be enough to offset other potential budget cuts, but he's optimistic.

Reitz's last day is Wednesday.

After he leaves, it'll be up to the interim chief to restructure the department with the mayor.