Clarendon Hills Shift From Blue Collar Affects Fire Department

CLARENDON HILLS, IL – The Clarendon Hills Fire Department faces several long-term challenges, so officials say they are working to make sure the agency measures up.

The village has been slowly moving its focus away from the paid-on-call model that relies on Clarendon Hills residents for staffing.

Now, the department is seeking fully trained paramedics who typically live elsewhere and often have full-time gigs at other departments.

Last month, village trustees approved a $127,000 contract with Elmhurst-based Metro Paramedic Services to fill in shifts. Clarendon Hills aims to have five members on duty at all times.

Asked about the financial impact, Village Manager Zach Creer told Patch that he guessed the contract would "slightly" increase the department's budget.

In a dramatic move in early 2024, the village parted ways with Fire Chief Brian Leahy in a severance deal after a months-long investigation. He had been at the helm for four decades.

Longtime paid-on-call members criticized the move, while out-of-town, contracted paramedics were more sympathetic with the village's decision. It was a sign of a split within the department's ranks.

Patch asked Creer about the long-term shift away from the paid-on-call model.

One of the explanations, Creer said in an email this week, was that the town's demographics had gone from blue collar to white collar. It was easier to recruit from the blue-collar demographic.

Here are other reasons that Creer cited for driving the change:

• Parental expectations have changed. "One parent leaving the house at night at 6 p.m. or gone every weekend is no longer culturally acceptable, and fathers in particular are expected to be more involved," Creer said.
• Paramedic standards have increased. Hospitals require paramedics on ambulances, and the state has raised standards for a wide range of responses, including handling of hazardous material incidents. Some of the critics of recent village decisions, Creer said, would not be eligible to be on the department any longer because they never got the required EMT-B certification.
• The village has seen a "demographic cliff" with a large cohort of firefighters. "We did not have much of a pipeline behind it," Creer said. "We are seeing early success with the Explorer program started two years ago (16 local students enrolled). We are hoping that these lead to long-term members."
• The state is facing a public safety employee shortage. "In general, working overnight with no work from home is not attractive. COVID also caused a big gap, as it was hard to get the required ride hours to get certified as a paramedic due to social distancing," Creer said.
• Many union contracts have clauses banning moonlighting. That, Creer said, has lost the department a number of members.

The local department is going through the same cycle as many of its counterparts, Creer said. Still, the department has seen a lot of interest, hiring about 25 people in the last year or so, he said.

"However, only 2 are currently working shifts as the others are in the academy, failed to pass Loyola hospital testing or for other reasons have not been able to work," Creer said.

Among the critics of the department's changes are Peter Vexter, a former member.

In an email to Patch, Vexter said Creer has some legitimacy to his points about demographic and societal changes.

"(B)ut my response to that would be if it had been approached with a positive spirit and intent, a constructive transition plan could have been developed and executed," Vexter said. "Unfortunately, they embarked on and are still waging a campaign of bureaucracy and pettiness instead."

The bottom line, Vexter said, is the village wanted the paid-on-call model eliminated so that it could tighten its control of part-time, contracted employees.

"Being done in this manner is, in my opinion, going to provide a less committed and dedicated service to the Village," he said.

Creer is aware of such sentiments.

"We have a number of disgruntled ex-employees that lob criticism," Creer said. "I have not seen much constructive that we could possibly implement. Lowering standards to below state, hospital system or federal requirements is not an option."

The Village Board's goal is to improve the department's Insurance Services Office rating. That means increasing training requirements, Creer said. In a 2021 audit, the department got a 0 out of 35 in fire training and a 3 out of 15 in officer training, he said.

Creer said he meets with the department almost daily about efforts to make sure it meets the standards of various organizations.

"Residents of Clarendon Hills demand a high level of service from all departments and that needs to include the fire department," Creer said. "Overall, we have a dedicated group of employees in the department. There are just a number of things to work on."