Council members said they’d rather buy training grounds for Jacksonville firefighters than lease them during the Jacksonville City Council’s budget workshop this week.
With the draft budget completed by city staff, there are several requests from city departments that City Manager Richard Woodruff said he didn’t add to the draft. He felt it was more beneficial to have each department explain why they made their specific requests and have the council decide whether to grant the requests or not.
Jacksonville Fire and Emergency Services representatives approached the council at the workshop to discuss several departmental requests, including additional extrication equipment to improve collision responses for $26,659 and a request for $13,500 to cover text books and supplies to train 45 firefighters in advanced EMT to improve their responses to medical calls, which make up 59 percent of their total number of calls annually.