Naples police and fire rescue departments ask city council about hiring more staff

Everyone knows that more and more people are moving to Southwest Florida, which is why the city of Naples police and fire rescue chiefs discussed their departments’ past, present, and future.

“Whether it’s adding positions for sworn officers or civilian positions to help grow with the demand that we’ve seen in both the growth within the city, as well as the growth in Collier County as a whole,” said Lieutenant Bryan McGinn with Naples Police Department.

“If our people have decent equipment, decent stations, then that’s going to build a sense of pride,” said Chief Phillip Pennington with City of Naples Fire-Rescue.

Chiefs Pennington and Dominguez led presentations and outlined what they believe should be considered in the next three years.

“But what’s not happening, proactive patrols for active traffic enforcement, things that we see,” added McGinn. “And we hear from the citizens are an issue when it comes to traffic and special needs special events and things along those lines, the needs of the community.”

They said the demands on the city’s various departments have changed over the years, and they need to make hires to keep up.

“Year one, looking to add three new firefighters salary and benefits for one firefighter is about $119,000, add in gear of about eight to 1,000 times three, that’s $381,000. 382 if you want to round it up; also looking for a battalion chief of logistics,” added Pennington.

City officials agree and point to the population growth and the number of visitors and tourists driving up service calls. That isn’t going to change.

“I think it’s naïve to say that this city or this county is going to stop growing, right? It’s not going to happen. It’s one of the most sought-after areas in the country right now,” said McGinn.

McGinn believes having these talks now only helps the community in the future.

“It just helped paint a really good picture so our elected officials know the full story before they make decisions and things like that when it comes to budgeting,” McGinn said.