The La Crosse firefighters union chief said he and his members were “blindsided” by an idea Mayor Matt Harter floated to convert the 95-person department to an all or partial volunteer force.

“They’re calling me and saying ‘What about the promises that were made that we’re not reducing services?’” said Lt. Jeff Murphy, head of Local 127 of the International Association of Fire Fighters. “My answer to all of this is I have no idea what’s going on because he completely blindsided us.”

Reports circulating Tuesday prompted Murphy and dozens of other firefighters to pack the city’s council chambers, where the body was preparing to vote on the 2010 operating budget.

Many of the council’s 17 members said they, too, were stunned by the mayor’s suggestion of transitioning to the lower-cost service.

“I think it’s an insane idea,” said Mike Larsen, council member for downtown La Crosse, where fire calls far outpace any other aldermanic district. “He really doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s comparing La Crosse to La Crescent, West Salem or Tomah.”

Harter stressed Tuesday it’s just a feasibility study and may never materialize into a full-blown proposal or resolution.

A memo Fire Chief Gregg Cleveland sent Harter on Nov. 10 indicates the mayor asked the chief to report on converting half the department to a volunteer force withing 1.5 years and the full department within three years.

“He asked me to do something and he’s the boss,” Cleveland said. “These types of decisions aren’t mayoral decisions or council decisions or chief’s decisions. They’re community decisions. It all comes down to what level of risk are they willing to assume.”

Cleveland previously oversaw the Menasha Fire Department, which like the city of Onalaska has a mix of career and volunteer firefighters.

The fire chief said he couldn’t speculate how many volunteers would be required to staff La Crosse’s four fire stations. The department this year already has fielded 4,228 calls for service.

“There are a lot of things that the fire department gets called on that aren’t burning buildings,” said council member Dick Swantz. “My gut tells me there’s no way a volunteer fire department can do what these trained professionals are trained to do.”

Harter vowed during his spring campaign to cut City Hall spending but promised no reductions in police and fire service levels.

“This type of option is without a doubt a cut to services,” Murphy said. “It seems like we’re really grasping at straws, and public services are too important to treat that way.”

Cleveland’s memo to the mayor suggests losing his trained personnel would “result in the degradation of life safety services.”

He added, “I do not believe that your concept has merit.”

Cleveland and Finance Director Wayne Delagrave said they weren’t sure how Wisconsin’s “maintenance of effort” rule might affect Harter’s idea. The state budget threatens to cut shared revenue to municipalities that reduce spending on police and fire unless they’re creating efficiencies while maintaining existing levels of service.

It can be and has been done, Harter said Tuesday, pointing to Bloomington, Minn.’s 140-person volunteer force.

That city’s fire department runs on a $2.5 million budget, about a fourth of what La Crosse will spend in 2010.

Most fire departments do offer some level of compensation for volunteer firefighters, whether in hourly pay or monthly stipend. In Menasha, Cleveland said volunteers were paid $7 an hour. Bloomington pays volunteers $5 per fire call and $4.12 per drill, plus $65 a month to be on call.

The La Crosse Fire Department, which Cleveland called highly trained and specialized, provides services such as hazmat response for La Crosse and 17 other counties. The council Thursday approved a mutual aid agreement with Fort McCoy.

“We’re a paramilitary organization, so we believe in process,” Murphy said. “Under whose authority is this being done? This process has shown me it’s a one-man show.”