ARLINGTON — The Arlington City Council is considering whether to replace its public safety director with the return of separate police and fire chiefs, as it weighs the budget for next year.

City administrator Paul Ellis explained to the council on Oct. 19 that the proposed budget would cover the public safety director position through 2016, but elaborated that the contract for the position is set to expire in June.

“Even if you approve this budget, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re approving this position,” Ellis said.

“But if we hire another chief, the budget would be short,” council member Jesica Stickles said.

Ellis estimated that the costs of hiring a new chief, to serve the last six months of 2016, would add as much as $12,000 to the budget.

“So, why not plan as if we were hiring another chief instead?” Stickles asked

“Because it’s a relatively small expense in the whole scheme of things,” Ellis said. “Even if it maxes out our budget, we can add a budget amendment at the end of the year.”

Ellis reassured council member Debora Nelson that this extra cost would not cause any other critical expenses to fall short in the meantime.

Ellis later confirmed that Bruce Stedman, the current public safety director, would go back to being the fire chief, if and when Arlington were to hire a new police chief.

“That person could be promoted from within or hired from the outside, but part of the reason why there was that merger of positions was to give us time to prepare our people for possible succession,” Ellis said. “At this point, we have some people whom I think would be poised to do well.”

When Stedman was appointed as public safety director in 2014, the city had just completed a matrix study that identified areas to be improved within the police department, mostly involving its management structure. As public safety director, Stedman was tasked with implementing the study’s recommendations, in addition to working on secession planning within the police.

Ellis noted that, if and when Stedman returns to his former role as fire chief, his salary would return to “the level comparable to that job description.” He will not retain his $156,000 salary as public safety director, since that position will no longer exist.

Ellis believes the public safety director position has been valuable to city, and allowed the completion of the recommendations staff was able to implement.

“There is still work to do, and we will be reviewing that with the council, to make a determination of when to return to a single director over each public safety department, but overall, it has been a successful program,” Ellis said.

The council is set to vote on the budget Nov. 2.