CARTHAGE, Mo. — Times change, communities grow, people and their expectations change and work places across the spectrum are changing as well.
Carthage police and fire departments are working through their own changes and challenges.
One challenge affecting both departments, even to a degree before 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic, is attracting and keeping the police officers, firefighters, administrators and other people needed to maintain and grow the departments to serve Carthage’s growing population.
Fire Department
After decades of covering the city of Carthage and the Carthage Fire Protection District that surrounds the city from one station located at Centennial and Garrison avenues, the Carthage Fire Department built a second station on the south end of town at 3000 S. Main St. in 2020. The struggle since then has been manning two stations safely with the optimum number of firefighters, and fire Chief Ryan Huntley said the department is working toward having four people working out of each of its stations.
“One thing we’re doing that we’re excited about is our goal is to add five additional personnel in the next five years,” Huntley said. “We have been OK’d to hire three additional this year. We’re wanting each station to have a minimum of four people in it at all times. I think that’s the bare minimum we need to show up with to do our job efficiently and safely.”
Deputy Chief Jason Martin said once the department hires those additional three people by the end of July, it will have three eight-person crews and one nine-person crew.
Huntley said finding and keeping personnel has always been a struggle but even more so in the past few years.
The department has made a number of moves to help attract more people.
In the past few months, the Carthage City Council agreed to lower the minimum age of someone wanting to be a firefighter in Carthage from 21 to 18.
“The reason for that is we’ve had some younger prospects who were 19 or 20 years old and they ended up going to departments that were around us,” Huntley said. “We lost a couple of recruits, so I decided maybe it was time for us to move down as well.”
Huntley said it takes a special person to be a firefighter and preparing someone straight out of high school to be a firefighter has been a concern in the past.
“There’s always concerns,” he said. “Twenty-one is a little more mature than 18, but you get the right individual who is a mature 18, I think it’ll work out.”
The department also added a new engine two years ago and is working to add its fourth brush-fire vehicle in the coming weeks.
The truck has been delivered and the department is preparing to open bids on building the tanks, pumps and other equipment needed to finish the vehicle.
Huntley said the department is also preparing to order another new fire engine in the coming months. He said companies that build firetrucks have told him to expect a build time of a year and a half to two years.
Police Department
Police Chief Bill Hawkins, a 40-plus-year veteran of the department, has seen vast changes in law enforcement, the workplace and Carthage.
But the past few years have been as challenging as any in his career when it comes to recruiting and retaining police officers.
“I think it’s pretty obvious with social media the way it is, all across the nation, that there have been some real challenges,” he said. “A lot of it having to do with law enforcement and first responders. Personally, I’m very happy that we live in Southwest Missouri. I think we have a good relationship with the community. But it’s all a ripple effect in that there’s less and less interest in being a police officer these days, or at least it seems to be that way. Years ago, we used to have anywhere from 20 to 30 applicants apply for a position, and now we’re lucky if we have five.”
Hawkins said the department is working constantly to evaluate how it compensates officers — not just in money — to stay competitive with other departments nearby so officers stay around.
“Pay is always an issue, and we try to remain competitive with other agencies of our size,” Hawkins said. “We do salary studies to make sure our pay is in alignment with other cities our size. We also have incentive programs. Most recently we’ve started the take-home car program in which commissioned officers will soon have their own car. There are some minor restrictions as far as where you live, but for the most part, everyone will have their own car. As far as equipment goes, there was a time when everyone had to share equipment, even radios, but now everyone has their own equipment for the most part.”
Hawkins said the take-home car program is expensive up front, but it will likely save money in maintenance and replacement costs in the long run.
“The purchase of the cars took place over a few years,” Hawkins said. “We’ll probably complete that in the next four to six weeks with the purchase of a few new cars. Because the officers have a personal investment in the cars now and they tend to take better care of it, keep it cleaner and make sure it gets the proper maintenance. Really, in the long run, studies show that maintenance costs go down.”