Fredonia has added another firefighter after a tight 3-2 vote by the village Board of Trustees.

Ryan Martin was hired as a full time firefighter, effective Nov. 1, at a pay rate of $22.75 an hour. He will serve an 18-month probationary period.

Trustees Ben Brauchler, Nicole Siracuse and Paul Wandel voted to approve the hiring of Martin. Trustees Jon Espersen and Michelle Twichell voted against it.

Trustees decided to vote on hiring Fisher at a Sept. 10 special meeting called primarily to handle water system issues, because the board cancelled its next regular meeting, which had been set for Sept. 15.

Espersen said he voted “no,” as he did on another recent firefighter hire, because a new contract with firefighters is not done yet. “Until the contract is ironed out and we know exactly how many firefighters are going to be necessary to serve all of the shifts, and how many paramedics we’re going to need, I’ll continue to say, ‘No hiring new firefighters.'”

Siracuse said she voted to hire Martin because he will be replacing someone who retired, therefore the fire department is not adding staff.

Fire Chief Josh Myers answered a series of questions from Wandel about his proposed hire of Martin at a village officials’ workshop also held Sept. 10.

“He is an EMT basic, he is not a paramedic,” Myers said of Martin. “He would go to fire training, and then if the contract stayed that way it is, one person still has to go to medic school. We’re still down a medic. I do plan on sending Bryce (Fisher) to medic school… so if Bryce goes, then Ryan would not need to go.

“We’re kind of in uncharted waters, if that makes sense,” Myers added. We’ve never hired, then had to send someone to med school. But the times are here.”

Just three people on the current civil service list were available to fill the position, Myers continued. The hire of Martin will bring the department up to its full paid staff of 12, he said.

According to the chief, “We hired an individual a couple months back. He was disqualified through the physical (with) civil service, which is why that process exists. The longer we wait, the worse it’s just going to get for us. I get that this individual’s not ‘plug and play’… but the longer we wait, the longer we incur overtime because we’re down a firefighter, the longer these guys are getting tired. It’s a domino effect, so it’s really imperative we get back to full staffing.”

Myers later stated that the fire department is on target to hit its anticipated ambulance billing revenue number of $550,000.