New Cedar Falls Mayor Rob Green wants the city council to review the city’s controversial Public Safety Officer program.
The city has been slowly replacing firefighter positions with Public Safety Officers, or PSO’s, which are police officers cross-trained as firefighters. The move has angered firefighters and was a big issue in the election where council member Green defeated incumbent Mayor Jim Brown.
“There are aspects of it I like. There are aspects of it I don’t think are in the best interests of the city,” Green told KCRG TV. Just 15 fulltime firefighters remain on staff in Cedar Falls which is down from 30. Many left, saying they don’t feel safe working with PSOs. Firefighters endorsed Green for mayor, hoping he would bring changes to the program.
Now less than one week in — Mayor Green says he does not want to cut any more firefighter positions, but he stopped short of promising to reverse the program.