04/21/2009 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 4/21/2009 than a 40 hour work week person. They are not saying they are overworked; they like their schedule. It's beneficial to the city; it saves the city money; it is more advantageous to scheduling. There have also been some comments made about negotiations and the fire fighters being unwilling to compromise. They have stated publicly before Council they were willing to compromise. They feel as though the negotiations have not been broken off by the fire fighters, but actually on the other end. There were comments made that the fire fighters are never coming back, you're not getting them back, and you just better work on keeping the ones that you have now. Any comments made publicly by others saying that the fire fighters have been unwilling to compromise to get those laid off fire fighters back is disingenuous to them because. the fire fighters have tried everything they can to get them back. The fire fighters did talk about the layoffs publicly and before Council. They made the mistake probably of talking too much about the layoffs because the more important thing to the citizens of the city and to Council i~: safety. The fact that the staffing has been reduced is a much more important factor to the people in North Olmsted. Layoffs have happened around the country. They don't hold themselves in any higher esteem that anybody else. Just because the city is laying off fire fighters isn't the issue. The issue is about safety. Because those fire fighters were laid off, the department won't be able to keep the staffing levels the same. It's going to impact somebody in this city; it's going to impact some resident; there's going to be a change in the level of service. That is a fact. The fire fighters would like to see same federal stimulus money become available so the fire fighters can be rehired. But they found out recently that none of the programs that have been applied for have been for fire fighters. It has been only for police officers. That was mentioned again tonight. It would have been nice to have been told about that earlier because the fire fighters who were laid off may have been waiting for the call hoping that maybe money would become available, but that- is not the case. There has also been talk about COG and regionalization. Regionalization to save money is fine, but regionalization in the hopes of doing it with less fire fighters is wrong. The Mayor has told him personally that it is not the hope of doing it with less fire fighters, it's just to do it in a more cost effective manner. Regionalization in that issue is fine. Is the COPS grant to avert additional layoffs or is it to rehire the police officers that have been laid off? Mayor O'Grady answered that the COPS grant that was applied for is with the intention of averting additional layoffs. Regarding regionalism, he has said publicly before and will say it again, the focus of regional cooperation is not to do it with fewer fire fighters. It's to do it more efficiently with the fire fighters we have. LEGISLATION Ordinance No. 2009-34 introduced by Council Member Dailey Jones and Orlowski was given its third .reading. An ordinance creating new Section 331.43 of Chapter 331 (Operation Generally) of the North Olmsted Traffic Code for the purpose of prohibiting excessive motor vehicle engine idling in the City of North Olmsted, as amended. Council Member Dailey Jones moved for adoption. The motion was seconded by Councilman Orlowski and passed unanimously. Ordinance No. 2009-34 adopted. 5