As construction grows, Coral Gables fire union wants at least 2 more jobs in city’s budget
As Coral Gables prepares to pass its $254 million budget, the city’s firefighters are making a lastminute appeal for at least two more full-time positions to staff a ladder truck, warning the city is building beyond what its current staffing can safely protect.
The city is growing taller, and with several high-rise buildings either under review, approved or already under construction, firefighters argue that they need additional bodies to staff a ladder truck to ensure the safety of both the tenants and themselves. They point to one project in particular — Agave Ponce’s behemoth Plaza Coral Gables — that promised to add two firefighters in a development agreement that last year was amended in a way that softened that commitment.
“There are a considerable number of areas … that the department is not currently trained and equipped to safely mitigate,” Coral Gables firefighter and union representative David Perez said during the city’s first budget hearing Monday.
In a statement, a city spokeswoman wrote that the city is dedicated to meeting the best industry standards for fire departments, noting that the city’s force is accredited by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International and recognized as a top-tier fire department by the Insurance Services Office.
“The City of Coral Gaincludes bles is committed to providing the highest standards for the health and safety of our residents and visitors as well as our firefighters who provide services for our community in their time of need,” spokeswoman Martha Pantin wrote.
Gables Mayor Vince Lago responded to Perez during the hearing, calling his criticism “shameful.” “I was adamant the firefighters had the best, worldclass public safety building, unmatched in Miami-Dade County or the State of Florida,” Lago said during the meeting Monday. “To call into question the commitment of this commission, in my opinion, is shameful.”
The staffing issue is not a new one. The union contends there has not been a meaningful increase in the number of firefighters on staff since the 1990s, which predates the construction of several large developments. A city spokeswoman did not respond to a request to confirm when staff was last added.
Meanwhile, several independent groups have informed the union’s call to increase its staffing. And at one time, the city did acknowledge the strain taller buildings bring to the fire department.
The Plaza Coral Gables, which is situated on approximately seven acres and spans three city blocks facing Ponce de Leon Boulevard and Ponce Circle Park, is the largest in the history of Coral Gables.
The original 2015 development agreement between Plaza developer Agave Ponce and the city
a public safety memo which outlines the need for four additional police officers and two additional firefighters. The agreement states that in addition to complying with required costs and fees, the developer also would commit to an additional $2.7 million for public safety, as specified in a memo from former fire chief Marc Stolzenberg, calling for the money to go specifically toward staffing. The agreement also allows for some of that money to fund public art in the new building or at nearby Ponce Circle
Park.
“Current ladder staffing of two firefighters is not consistent to match the operational needs of this project,” Stolzenberg wrote in the memo. “In order to achieve this recommendation, the daily operational staffing would increase to two additional positions.”
But an amended version of the development agreement, signed in June 2020, strikes the memo, among other edits, and instead says the $2.7 million could be used for a more generic “public safety need.”
The firefighters argue the amended language fails to address their staffing needs, and point to a standard the department follows, which relies on research from the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Among other things, the 2019 standard — published by the National Fire Protection Association — recommends that in buildings seven stories or higher, the total response force should
be a minimum of 42 firefighters.
As of the current staffing numbers, a maximum 32 firefighters are on duty during any given shift.
“The thing that is the burr under the saddle is that it is tough to get staffing,” said NFPA committee chair William Bryson, a veteran fire chief who led both the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County fire departments during his 37-year career. “It’s expensive. Salaries are higher, pensions are better, work weeks are shorter.”
The concern over staffing with regards to the Plaza Coral Gables has existed long before this budget cycle, though the firefighters are more wary now as large developments continue to pop up — especially already-permitted projects like the 7-story Merrick
Park Hotel, 14-story 100 Miracle Mile mixed-use space and 12-story Belmont Village assisted living facility.
At a March 2015 meeting on the Plaza project, months before the agreement was signed, former union president Mike Chickillo expressed his concern about the new developments around the
city, especially the two assisted living facilities, which he said “really impacted our services.”
“In the past, we’ve kind of sat on the sideline when projects like this have come forward, and we just want to make sure that the impact to the Fire Department is felt,” he said during the meeting. “So, you know, we’re all for the development, if that’s what the citizens want, and that’s what they choose to go with. It’s a beautiful building. It’s fantastic looking. But from a fire perspective side and from the manpower, we need more people to do that.”
He expressed that the current staffing is not enough. “We need more people right now . ... Not when this project’s done or other projects come on line,” he said. “We need it back yesterday. We need to get our staffing back up.”
Current union president Tom Zelenak declined to comment.
Throughout 2015, staff addressed concerns from the commission and the public about how the erection of the large buildings would impact the city’s fire department.
During a June 2015 special commission meeting about the project, former City Manager Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark promised the staffing would be on par with the risks posed by new construction. “We have earmarked a half a ladder, a half a rescue...,” she said. “We have identified additional improvements will be needed to make sure that the service is at the level that you expect it to be.”
During a Monday budget hearing, Lago said the firefighters were making “incorrect assumptions” and that the NFPA documentation was “misconstrued.” He told Perez that the budget process is “not the time” to discuss staffing or “make statements that could scare residents of this community.”
A spokeswoman for the city did not answer questions regarding what steps the city will take to respond to the firefighters’ concerns, or what specific “incorrect” assumptions and memos Lago was referring to in his statement from the dais.
City Manager Peter Iglesias said during the budget hearing that the city “will not ask for additional headcount” until it can do an “adequate analysis of what we need and why we need it.” “Aside from NFPA … this is an issue for the chiefs and for the administration to look at,” he said.
Bryson, the former chief and NFPA chair, said the Monday confrontation was not the first time he’s seen staffing issues become political in a city hall environment. “I think in politics, some people just don’t want to believe something even though they are told by experts in the field,” he said. “They just say well, we are not going to do it — until something bad happens, and it always does.” NFPA is not an enforcement agency or insurance organization has advised fire departments since
1896, Bryson said.