Political Progress on Stamford Merger

[Geppetto 31]

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local...0,4979537.story

Plan to unify fire services gets approval

By Stephen P. Clark

Staff Writer

January 29, 2008

STAMFORD - The Board of Finance recommended in a special meeting last night that the Board of Representatives approve a plan unifying all paid firefighters at three volunteer fire departments under one labor contract.

Five finance board members voted in favor of issuing a positive advisory opinion. Republican Joseph Tarzia, who raised concerns about the plan's effect on response by firefighters, abstained from voting.

The Board of Representatives is not required to follow the finance board's opinion when it votes on the matter in a special meeting tomorrow night.

If approved, the plan would go into effect July 1, the start of the next fiscal year.

"I think it's a positive step," Board of Finance member Tim Abbazia said.

The contract is part of the merger of paid Stamford Fire & Rescue firefighters into Belltown, Glenbrook and Turn of River volunteer fire departments to increase staffing and improve fire coverage. It is expected to cut back on volunteer department overtime costs.

Before the plan was created, the paid firefighters were hired under a different labor contract with the city.

Stamford's volunteer firehouses are independent under the city Charter but rely on city funding and employees to function.

The three volunteer fire departments spent $700,000 on overtime in 2006; the restructuring plan is expected to save the city more than $500,000 annually.

Only Glenbrook has agreed to join the merger, after losing a court battle arguing that the move violated its management agreement with the city. Belltown lost its paid staff last month and is now fully staffed by volunteers after refusing to cede control to Stamford Fire & Rescue. Turn of River's lawsuit against the city to block intervention of management or operational control is still pending.

The paid fire union, which has filed complaints against the departments alleging unfair labor practices and unsafe work environments, voted in favor of the merger.

Under the new contract, the 34 paid firefighters will report to downtown Fire Chief Robert McGrath, increasing staff at Stamford Fire & Rescue to about 272 firefighters.

Staffing at the three volunteer firehouses will increase from one or two paid firefighters per shift to three or four. Termination of the management agreements with the volunteer departments also will cede total supervision over paid firefighters to the city.

The finance board last night also approved $131,699 for a strategic fire study that might lead to more changes in the restructured system. Although the study will take about six months to complete, Public Safety Director William Callion said he expects to receive preliminary results from Systems Plan Corp., the firm hired to do the study, before then.

"The good news about this is it's really a strategic plan," Callion said. "We're looking from the year 2008 to 2020 in terms of a review."

This isn't the first time the city has studied fire services. In 1995, a fire protection study commissioned by the city concluded that Stamford's system was distressed, with understaffed volunteer fire departments. The restructured system mirrors recommendations from that study, which called for redistributing Stamford Fire & Rescue firefighters to the volunteer departments as a cost-effective way to improve public safety.

Tarzia last night asked why more recommendations were not followed.

McGrath noted that a firehouse was built in the South End, as recommended by the plan.

"The reason I ask," Tarzia said, "is because followup is usually where we fall down."

"Execution is the hallmark of what we're going to do, Mr. Tarzia," Callion said.

Copyright © 2008, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.

[Geppetto 31]

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local...0,1945546.story

Reps OK single contract for city's paid firefighters

By Donna Porstner

Staff Writer

February 1, 2008

STAMFORD - The Board of Representatives has approved a pact that brings all of the city's paid firefighters under a single labor contract, taking Stamford one step closer to finalizing the merger of the paid and volunteer fire departments.

The board voted 24-8 Wednesday in favor of the agreement, an addendum to the city's labor contract with Local 786 of the International Association of Fire Fighters.

The contract gives 34 employees working for the Turn of River Fire Department, and those formerly employed by Belltown and Glenbrook fire departments, 21Ú2 years of retroactive wage increases and makes them employees of Stamford Fire & Rescue. They were city employees assigned to volunteer houses.

The contract calls for 3 percent wage increases on July 1, although those hired by the volunteer departments before 1999 won't be eligible for the increase since their salaries are higher than their counterparts at Stamford Fire & Rescue. Under the agreement, the veteran firefighters' salaries are frozen until their counterparts downtown catch up.

All paid firefighters have received the same health and pension benefits since 1999 but they have had two separate contracts until now, Fire Union President Brendan Keatley said.

The city agreed not to layoff any firefighters before June 30, 2009, when the labor contract they are joining expires.

The deal does not benefit all members financially but the membership overwhelmingly supported it because it provides job security and increases minimum manpower requirements, Keatley said. In most cases, the contract requires the city to staff each firehouse with four firefighters at all times.

Previously, volunteer houses sometimes had only one or two paid firefighters on duty, which made it difficult to comply with federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards that require two equally trained and equipped firefighters outside for every two that enter a burning building or other hazardous situation. The union filed a complaint against the Glenbrook department and the city in September after a paid firefighter was injured fighting an attic fire alone until backup arrived.

"Some say, 'I'm not getting a raise, but I feel safer knowing I'm going home to my wife and kids,' " Keatley said. "They feel that this is the right way the fire service in this city should be moving and they are willing to sacrifice to do it."

Some elected officials question whether the labor contract went too far by making firefighters working at Turn of River employees of Stamford Fire & Rescue, reporting to Fire Chief Robert McGrath. By approving the contract, they have, in effect, approved the merger, they said. Turn of River has taken the city to court in an attempt to block the merger.

"We're voting to unify the fire services with this thing," said city Rep. Gregory Lodato, R-20, a member from North Stamford who voted against the contract.

The contract violates the city Charter, which gives the chiefs of the volunteer departments control over fire services in their districts, Lodato said. Under the Charter, the fire districts set in 1977 may be changed only with a two-thirds vote of the Board of Representatives.

"My board members disagreed in the end, so we have a contract that's pretty heavy on public policy," Lodato said.

In a legal opinion sent to the board, Director of Legal Affairs Thomas Cassone said the contract does not violate the Charter because it does not change the fire districts. Should Turn of River not want Stamford Fire & Rescue firefighters working in their district, the city would "presumably" honor that request, Cassone said.

Asked what will happen should Turn of River refuse to allow Stamford Fire & Rescue employees to work in that district, Cassone said he does not know how fire coverage would be provided.

"If it gets to that point, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," he said. "But I don't see that happening."

Whatever lies ahead, the city will put public safety first, Cassone said.

City Rep. Joseph Coppola, R-15, a former Belltown Fire Department chief, said he is concerned that the expansion of Stamford Fire & Rescue will kill the volunteer system, and an all-paid fire department will cost taxpayers more.

"At some point this administration will be gone, this board will be filled with different faces, but the legacy of what has been done will be haunting," Coppola said, reading from a prepared statement before the vote.

City officials have said declining participation of volunteers created a greater reliance on paid firefighters, and the merger is needed to protect the city.

Administrators have said the merger will save money because supervisors may assign firefighters where they are needed most. In the past, each department staffed from its own ranks and often paid overtime to have firefighters fill in for those taking sick or vacation time.

Director of Human Resources Dennis Murphy said putting all of the paid firefighters under the same command will save the city $316,908 in overtime spending for the fiscal year that ends June 30.

This week, the Turn of River department wrote to Board of Representatives President David Martin, D-19, asking him to delay voting on the labor contract until the court case is resolved.

Martin said they had to vote Wednesday because under state law his board has 45 days to reject a labor contract, otherwise it would be automatically approved.

Copyright © 2008, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.