12/05/1995 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 12/5/95 ,~ AUDIENCE PA~tTICII'A'~N ;,,,,,,: Jay Power, president of North Olmsted Firefighters Local 1267 of the International Association of Firefighters, had attended the committee meeting where the proposed Charter amendments were discussed. At that meeting, the proposed Charter am~dment to proh~it the city from privatiz~g the safety forces was cliscussecl. Mr. Power addressed two issues which were discussed whh regard to this. proposed am~uuladsent. Firms, he agreed with the consen~s of opinil~ that the fimctions of the Civil Service Co n have been reduced over time due to the increased collective barga ruts of public sector employees. However, he stated that throe is nothing in the ears coltive bargaining agreement that weld prechtde a faf+efighter from pleading his case to the Civil Service Commission rather than fallowing the grievance procedure. 'The second issue involved the pos~bility of a worse case scenario of an entffe shift bca~g injured or kded. Mr. Power said that, wh~c the pr~osed Chatter amendment would prechide the hiring of outsiders to fill those positions, there was no m~ttion or discussion abet the pos~'bl~y or the intent of the city to hire su#ficerrt mar rower to handle the worse case sc~ario fire in the city. The city obviously c~not afford to gaff and protect against the worse case scenario fire. Therefore, how could one protect against the worse case scenario loss of firefighters. The city does have in place mutual aid a is to provide ma~ower in emergency s~ituationsy providing such mappower and eq ' tare avaiiab~. I.?u~ag the committee discussion, an opincm was offered that such a scenario as previously described would not be an emergency. The fi ers do not agree with tons assessment. In addition, the Fire Chief has the abr`lrt' y to cancel all three off m the event of an emergency and to transfer firefighters as needed. The North ~ fi~e~rs :and families urge Council to place this proposedi Charter amendm~t on the balhrt. Mr. Power commented: "A vote to support the Charter amendment being placed on the ballot is a vote to support your firefighters." Mr. Power's comments sparked a lengthy debate on this issue. Mayor Boyle commented that, although Mr. Power had only spoken for firefighters, this issue also involves the police force. The Mayor said that he feels it is the primary region of government to protect persons and pr+rty. He would like the pra~osed Charter am~dmrnt to be put on the ballot so that the North Olmsted voters can decide if the saf~y forces should ever be privatized. Mr. McKay said that, in his opinion, North Olmsted has the best paramedic response of any city on the west side of Cleveland. However, he does not feel it is necessary to guarantee anyone a position. Iie feels that, in the future, this could cause employees to become complacent. He believes that adoption of this amamdm~t would limit future administrations and cause problems `during union negotiations. Mayor Boyle commented that the city will not be giving up the right to su~end or t e a firefighter or police officer. These is~es are covered in the negotiated union agreements. The proposed Charter amsntdrnent would not give up these rights, but it v~ould prevent the privatization of the entire safety force. The Mayor said that privatization of certain services can be succes~ul. For imstance, the privatization of trash co has worked well. However, he does not believe the privatization of safety forces would work because the city would lose control. Mr. McKay said there was no intention of privatizing the safety forces, but the city does have an obligation to protect the taxpayers' m~ey. Law 6