When the volunteer firefighters became paid-on-response employees in August, it was a temporary answer to a staffing problem that needs a permanent solution.

With volunteer numbers down, the fire board of POST Volunteer Fire Department requested to change the em-ployee status of their volunteers to a paid-on-response status. These employees are paid by the number of calls they respond to. The type of calls these paid-on-response (POR) employees help with would be limited to those that only the part- and full-time staff could not handle alone. The council approved this change on Aug. 24 and also agreed to serve as bookkeeper for POST.

On Monday, at the Nov. 23 meeting, Capt. Robbie Tester, chairman of the fire board, said POST Volunteer Fire Department needs funding next year in order to keep paying the firefighters that answer calls in Fort Oglethorpe.

He proposed a $440,000 amendment to the 2010 budget to the Fort Oglethorpe City Council at the Nov. 23 meeting.

This figure will keep three firefighters at station No. 1 in Fort Oglethorpe, station No. 8 on Boynton Drive and station No. 10 in Mack Smith Road 24 hours a day.

While this is not an ideal number of people at each station, Tester said, it meets the national standards of having three people at a fire station.

Right now, station No. 1 has three people during the day and two during night. Station No. 8 has two people dur-ing most of the day and two people at night. Station No. 10 is run by the paid-on-response personnel.

Tester said changing the employment status and keeping people at the two stations has decreased the firefight-ers’ response time to calls by half.

“No. 1 problem — where are we going to get the money?” city manager Ron Goulart said. “That’s quite a bit of money for me to come up with.”

The council, mayor, and city manager discussed cashing out cash deposits the city has in reserves or using the contingency funds in the 2010 budget.

“The people of Fort Oglethorpe will not do without fire services,” said mayor Ronnie Cobb.

The council and fire board are also waiting on a response from the county. In the past, the county has expressed interest in taking over fire services. The proposal asks how this change would be implemented.

Goulart said he will speak to the county and expedite their decision. Their original deadline for the proposal was Nov. 4, but they requested a 30-day extension.