12/03/2002 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 12/3/2002 ,~ legislation allowing for Council's advice and consent in any appointment of directors. No one has moved on that. There should also be the ability of Council to remove an administrator with 2/3 vote after an appropriate hearings. Employees should realize that jobs are on the line as this is not a good economy. There are things that need to be done positively to correct matters. Dave Boatman, 2093 Brown, president of the firefighters union. ^ He expressed his unhappiness with the Mayor who met with the union yesterday and talked about how the city was short on money. He said safety forces are running low, and it wouldn't be a good idea to get rid of anybody else. The Service Dept. has been decimated. The Mayor said that the public safety is most important. However, during the meeting the Mayor never mentioned that he had proposed an ordinance, in consultation with the Safety Director, to eliminate the Assistant Fire Chief who is a very integral part of the Fire Dept. That is just absurd and proves the Mayor doesn't care about the public safety, and the Safety Director doesn't understand about the public safety. This should have been referred to the Safety Committee. The Mayor is relying on job descriptions written years ago that no longer cover all the duties of the Chief, Assistant Chief and fire fighters. All employees have an important function. Just to say the rules and regulations have been reviewed and they are the same, therefore the position is not needed is absurd. This is nothing but a punitive action on the Fire Dept. Essentially, all the residents of the city will be put in jeopardy. The Assistant Fire Chief position has numerous functions. This could have been brought to the union yesterday, but it wasn't. What he is hearing tonight and what he heard at the last meeting is a lack of integrity. Councilman Limpert noted that the usual process is for legislation to be introduced, given first reading and then assigned to a committee for review. The comments by Mr. Boatman would be valid if the legislation was going to be passed this evening. However, the legislation will be discussed in committee, and he will be interested in the information provided by the fire fighters. Also, he hopes to get information from other communities. Councilwoman Kasler requested that Ordinance 2002-198 be placed in the Safety Committee in addition to the Finance Committee. Finance Committee chairperson McKay agreed, and President O'Grady assigned the legislation to both committees. John Davis, 5862 Barton Road, a member of the executive board of fire fighters. ^ Expressed his concern over Ordinance 2002-198. In 2000, the union started a Safe Staffing Committee and have provided information on safe staffing standards. In 2001, three new fire fighters were hired and the administration promised three more in 2002. That information was actually used in literature during the election. However, the three fire fighters for 2002 were never hired and there have not been replacements for retirements. The department is understaffed as is, and now the Mayor is trying to take out the leadership. What is going on and what is being gained by this action? Mayor Musial answered that leadership in the Fire Dept. is still there. This is a proposal being made to Council for consideration and would be on a temporary basis for one year. Mr. Davis noted that the fire fighters were wearing 9