The Odessa City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to hire an outside firm to study the compensation packages of all city employees, with a priority to be given to Odessa Fire Rescue, Odessa Police Department and emergency communications.
Last week, the city council indicated they wanted to rush the OPD and OFR study after members of the OFR spent two hours pleading their case.
Last year, OFR lost 35 employees, most of whom headed to other departments for higher pay, OFR representatives said. Another 22 have left so far this year.
Tuesday night, Sonya Cortez, an OPD custodian of records and a dispatcher, asked the council to consider adding dispatchers to the expedited study list.
Cortez said people can go to work at Chick-fil-A and make $16 an hour — more money than those in emergency communications.
The emergency communications department must have a minimum of 16 employees to operate and it currently has one more than that, she said.
Since March 2020, 49 people have applied for the position of dispatcher, 14 have passed the rigorous hiring process and 12 made it through training, Cortez said. Of those 12, five are still with the department.
They are having to rely on off-duty firefighters who work part-time to help out, Cortez said.
She started a change.org petition to get support for pay raises for her department and 928 have signed it, Cortez said.
The council agreed to include the emergency communications department in the expedited portion of the study.
In other matters, the council voted unanimously to grant a temporary specific use permit to a 11,250 square foot dance hall that will be located at 1551 John Ben Sheppard Parkway.
The council also recognized Lakeisa Taylor as the 2022 Employee of the Year and celebrated the fact OFR has received the Lifeline EMS Gold Plus Recognition Award from the American Heart Association.
