10/19/2004 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 10/19/2004 Councilwoman Kasler asked Mr. O'Donnell what he was referring to when he talked ~~,, about the deterioration of labor relations and mentioned threats. Mr. O'Donnell said some members were threatened with termination should they speak out against Fire Station No. 2. Also, some members were told, if they had a sticker supporting John Kerry on their personal vehicle, it would be towed from the station. That did not happen, but there was the threat. Law Director Dubelko commented the threat was brought to his attention by a union member, and he provided legal advice to the Fire Dept. He was assured by fire fighter management that those threats had not been made. He presumes they will follow the advice he gave which was any member of the union has a right to speak out in favor of the bond issue or against it. Councilman Miller asked Safety Director Jesse if he could provide information on how often Fire Station No. 2 had been left unmanned. Mr. Jesse said he did not have the statistics with him, but he will provide them. Assistant Chief Robertson came forward and said, other than during training or routine reasons for leaving the building, that station has been staffed. The policy and procedure have not changed. If fire fighters are leaving the building for some reason, that building is empty. If there is a fire, they don't need to be in the fire house, they need to be at the fire. If they're training, they need to be at training. Staffing levels have not been reduced. Regarding the health care committee, Mrs. Kasler asked who had been refused attendance. Mr. O'Donnell said Kevin Bang, from Master Benefits, had not been allowed to participate in the October 12 meeting by the administration. Mr. Dubelko said he thought that issue was worked out. There was a misunderstanding as to who the employer advisors/facilitators were. It was the employer's understanding that the Finance Director and the Personnel Director were the two facilitators/advisors under the provisions in the various union contracts. It was the feeling of some members of the health care committee that the city had instead designated Tim Viskocil the FMCS facilitator and Kevin Bang as its advisor. So, they were being noticed and invited to the meetings and the two employer advisors were not being invited. He and Dave Boatman discussed this issue, and he believes it was resolved. He knows the two advisors were invited to the most recent meeting. He believes the committee understands who the two city advisors/facilitators are, and he believes the employer's reps understand the right of the committee to invite anyone they wish to attend the meetings. Dan Coyle, 8625 Brentwood Drive, Olmsted Township, secretary of Local 1267, addressed Councilman Miller's question regarding the staffing of Station No. 2. At the beginning of the year, the policy changed regarding call back and minimum manning. Right now, there is a 10-man minimum-five men at each station. Prior to the beginning of the year, if the manning went below 7 people for that day's shift, they would call back to man the department to 7 people. He believes that has gone by the wayside in an effort to control costs. This presents a problem when the squad rolls out and two people are left on the fire truck. Afire occurred in Forest Ridge, and the initial response was two people on a fire engine because the squad was out. The next responding units came from the east end within a 6-8 minute response time. Afire doubles in size every minute. Two people could only hold the fire hose and wait for somebody else to show up. They 10 ~~~.,,..r=: I