Oxford’s fire department just scored a huge federal grant to hire someone to help beef up its ranks and ensure personnel stick with the job.

Last week, the township board voted 7-0 to accept a $333,706 grant from the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) program, which is through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

SAFER’s purpose is to protect the health and safety of the public and firefighting personnel against fire and fire-related hazards.

Oxford will use the money to fund a full-time recruitment/retention officer for a four-year period.

“His primary role and responsibility is going to be to recruit and hire new members for our paid-on-call system,” explained Fire Capt. Ron Jahlas, who handled the grant application.

“Per the grant, they are not intended to be a full-time firefighter/EMS person,” said Fire Chief Pete Scholz when he addressed the township board. However, in the event of, for example, a large fire, this new person would be available if an extra set of hands was needed.

“Hopefully, (the new officer will) boost our numbers up to where we would like (them) to be,” said Jahlas, a full-time firefighter/paramedic who started as a paid-on-call member in 1994.

Currently, the department has 25 paid-on-call members – 21 firefighter/Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) and four EMTs. According to Jahlas, that just isn’t enough manpower.

“All of the fire departments are struggling to recruit (paid-on-call) people,” he explained. “We’ve seen our paid-on-call numbers decline over the years and our call volume is increasing. We’re continuously doing more runs with less personnel.”

“I know that it’s hard to get paid-on-call (members),” said township Trustee Jack Curtis. “(Addison Township Fire) Chief (Jerry) Morawski is screaming daily about getting and retaining these people.”

Jahlas said the goal is to increase the number of paid-on-call members to about 45.

“Forty-five is not an unrealistic number for a department our size,” he said.

“Ideally,” the officer hired using this grant would recruit and retain five firefighters per year, for a total of 20.

The officer will serve as a “mentor” to new recruits.

“It would give them a contact person to go to with any of their questions,” Jahlas said. “He would be the field training officer for them. He would oversee all of their training.”

The new officer will also help retain existing staff and act “as a liaison between upper management and the firefighters themselves, making sure that everybody has the proper training and the tools and equipment that are necessary,” Jahlas noted.

Jahlas said the White Lake Township Fire Department has a recruitment/retention officer and the position works quite well for them.

“They’re having great success with it,” he said.

Of the $333,706 grant, $201,490 is for the new officer’s salary and $121,480 is to cover fringe benefits.

The remainder of the grant will be spent on physicals for new recruits ($6,000) and textbooks for them ($4,736). Jahlas said each physical costs $300.

Over four years, the new position is expected to cost a total of $369,641, which means $35,935 will have to come from the department’s budget.

The recruitment/retention officer will be a salaried position with a starting pay of $53,000, plus benefits, in the first year. After that, it will increase by 2.5 percent annually until it tops at $57,075 in the fourth year.

Jahlas noted at the end of four years, if this new position is “successful and beneficial,” Oxford could potentially reapply for the SAFER grant to keep it going or possibly fully fund it through the department budget. However, the department is in no way obligated to keep the position once the grant money is used up.

“It is only guaranteed for four years,” Jahlas said. “You do not have to keep it after that point in time.”

Scholz told the same thing to the township board. “The main thrust right now is a four-year position” and once the grant ends, unless other funding is determined, “the employee would be released at that point,” he said.

Thanks to Jahlas’ grant-writing efforts, the department has now received five grants from FEMA, totalling $971,036 (not including local matching funds), since 2009.

“We’re saving the community money,” he said. “We’re gaining equipment and personnel without having to go to the taxpayers for that stuff.”

“Anything that we can do, whether it’s individually or as a whole, to benefit the department and the community is definitely worthwhile,” Jahlas added.