Fire Chief Mickey Healey has the City Council’s unanimous support — at least for now.

Council members voted in favor of implementing a new command structure at the Austin Fire Department Monday night at a work session. The issue will go for a final vote at a regular City Council meeting eventually.

Under the current command structure, there are 32 firefighters who report to one commander, and the commander reports to the chief. Healey is hoping to establish a chain of command that would have three commanders — one for each shift.

However, some concerns were raised that could affect the outcome of the final vote.

Council member Brian McAlister said he supports the three-commander structure as a concept but will need to see the up-to-date job description of the position before he can throw full support behind it.

McAlister also said he would prefer if the commanders could be in a different bargaining unit than the other firefighters to avoid conflict.

Council member Jeff Austin agreed with McAlister.

“If they’re not in the same (bargaining) unit, that takes some of the (politics) out of it,” Austin said.

The technicalities involved with switching supervisors to a different union can be worked out later, though, council member Steve King mentioned.

“The union stuff can come later, but making (AFD) whole should come first,” King said.

AFD used to have a three-commander structure, but as people retired, the positions were never filled. In April 2008, talks began between the department and City Council to potentially switch over to a structure with one chief and one assistant chief. However, in July 2009, council members voted 6-1 to suspend the assistant fire chief process.

Healey compared his need for a more thorough command structure to that of the police department. The APD has several different ranks, including a chief, captain, lieutenants, sergeants and patrolmen. He said having three commanders would improve communication and efficiency.

Look to the Austin Daily Herald for more as this story develops.