Fredonia Fire Department Chief Joshua Myers wants a requirement that his lieutenants are certified as paramedics.

Myers made the proposal at a Fredonia Board of Trustees workshop last week.

“The fire lieutenant position was created long before me, but there was never a requirement to be a paramedic,” he said. “It just happened to work out that the three lieutenants were paramedics.”

Myers said when the department crested a captain position, it included a paramedic certification requirement. “I want to make the lieutenant position mirror that — before we fill the open lieutenant, this is the time to do it,” he said.

The “open lieutenant” position is due to the recent retirement of Tim Winters. Current lieutenants Tim Fisher and Ben Siracuse would be grandfathered in under Myers’ proposal, but “it would require whoever we promote next to have that (certification)…. as you know it’s pretty hard to find medics, so I really think this is a management tool for that.”

The change would require Board of Trustees approval. Trustee Jon Espersen expressed hesitancy about the proposal.

He said if a requirement to have two medics on every shift is dropped in a new contract currently under negotiation, “then a requirement to send a certain percentage of hires to medic school would not be necessary.”

Myers replied, “If that happens, we can then change our course as well. But I have to operate under the contract and this makes the most sense under the current contract.”

In other Fredonia Fire Department news, Myers and three others are set for a trip to Minnesota to perform a final inspection of the new pumper. Assistant Chief Chuck Ortolano, Captain Daniel Aldrich and Firefighter Tyler Cloos will join Myers in Minnesota. The Board of Trustees unanimously approved the trip this week, which will be paid for by the truck company.

The board also approved two new sets of gear for the fire department, at a cost of $10,996. That vote was 4-1, with Trustee Michelle Twichell the “no” vote.