ACTION REQUESTED:
Title
Communication from the City Manager and Interim Corporation Counsel with a Request to APPROVE of a SETTLEMENT with the INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIREFIGHTERS, LOCAL 50.
Body
BACKGROUND
I. Factual Background
a. Budget negotiations
i. In late 2017 the City was faced with an $8 million dollar budget shortfall and was negotiating with the IAFF to reduce Fire Department expenses. On November 17, 2017, the City Manager sent an email to the Mayor and City Council with an update on IAFF negotiations, noting that the proposed adjustments included:
1. Payment of "good incentive day" in lieu of time off
2. Hiring three firefighters in Suppression
3. Eliminating the Battalion Chief of Training
4. Transfer a Fire Inspector to Suppression
5. Transfer a Captain to Suppression
6. Assign three "Bouncing" fire fighters to a machine in suppression
7. Reduce the number of annual physicals
ii. There was also a goal to keep 17 machines in service in 2018, but the email noted "[t]he accountability for managing the Fire Department budget rests with the Fire Chief."
iii. The City Manager presented the proposed budget at the November. 21, 2017 City Council meeting, which the Council approved. The 2018-2019 budget was formally adopted by the Council on December 5, 2017
b. Memorandum of Understanding and engine brown outs
i. On February 14, 2018 the IAFF met with (former) Fire Chief Ed Olehy to finalize the agreement. IAFF gave Chief Olehy a proposed Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") that included a provision requiring a minimum of 17 machines be kept in service. Chief Olehy signed the MOU presented by IAFF, but before returning it to IAFF, forwarded it to the City Legal Department for review. The City legal department rejected the IAFF's MOU as it was not consistent with the discussions between the City and the union, and drafted a revised MOU that did not include the minimum staffing provision (note that IAFF later declined to sign the...
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