Lynn fire chief tops department

LYNN – Fire Chief Dennis Carmody tops the list of salaries earned at the department in 2010 with $182,078.His pay, which includes $3,823 in overtime, is higher than usual, according to Carmody, who said the figure is due to an award that he received stemming from a grievance in 2006, when he was passed over on the promotions list.As a result, he was awarded $34,725 last year, which represents the difference between a captain’s pay and a deputy chief’s salary.While the fire chief is not eligible for overtime, Carmody spent the first month of 2010 as deputy and earned $3,823, which is in overtime and part of his settlement. The rest of the staff is available for overtime as needed.Records show 20 firefighters, including Carmody, earned more than $100,000 in 2010, with $1,831,552 doled out in overtime and $26,779 in details.Ward 3 City Councilor Darren Cyr defended the amount of overtime issued last year, saying it was and continues to be a vital part of keeping the department up and running.”You can’t have one man driving a fire truck to a fire,” he said. “We went from a city of 80,000 to 90,000 and I’m sure the numbers are actually near 100,000 because people don’t do the census. In order to keep everyone safe, we need police and fire out there.”City Councilor At-large Daniel Cahill said he doesn’t believe overtime and detail hours are affecting the work firefighters take on.”If there was such a problem, I feel as if the chief or the firefighters would bring that to our attention,” he said. “It’s just not an issue.”While overtime and detail figures are not as high as those earned at the Lynn Police Department, there is still the potential to make extra money, Carmody said, especially since employees in the department haven’t had a raise since 2007.”We don’t do anywhere near the amount of details that the police do, but they’re a completely different animal,” he said. “Also, overtime was really high for us last year because we had a grant that covered overtime expenses.”Details aren’t common for firefighters, but when they are needed, Carmody said they are typically for blasting purposes, fire watch during welding jobs and when sprinkler and smoke detectors are out of service in buildings.”I always considered detail work as blood money and thought, oh, why did I do this after I agreed to,” he quipped. “But I don’t worry that they are overextending themselves because it (details) doesn’t happen too often and there’s a rule that you can’t work more than three shifts in a row.”A couple of top earners who racked up overtime dollars in the department include District Chief Lawrence C. Godbout, who added $24,956 in overtime to his base salary of $114,391; District Chief John V. Barry, who made $25,530 in overtime on top of his $111,860 base pay, and firefighter Alan N. Theodhor, who earned $24,754 in overtime, combined with his base pay of $63,203, totaling $87,957.Most of the overtime was footed by a grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which Carmody said made it possible to keep stations open with the extra manpower.”Firefighters put their lives on the line when they’re on duty,” Cyr said. “They’re doing their jobs, they serve the city very well and I think they need to be recognized for that.”As of now, 165 firefighters are employed in the department, with four scheduled to retire in July of this year. Carmody said nine firefighters are in the process of being hired, with 10 additional firefighters being added through the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant, which will bring the total number to 180.”It’s hard to say, but we anticipate that for the 2012-2013 year, we’ll be in a much better position than we are now,” he said. “The city is doing the best we can. It’s amazing that we didn’t have to lay anybody off.”