Commission Rejects Largo Fire Fighters Bid for Pay, VacationsBy Leo CoughlinLARGO - City Commission members obviously put aside any political considerations Tuesday night and denied the fire fighters union key elements they wanted in a new contract. The "impasse hearing," as it was called, because the city and union had stalled to a standstill on their negotiations, clearly held the line on the city's edict of no raises and made clear that the economic situation is dictating decisions. Continuation of a step plan, where employees got automatic increases tied to a time line, and more vacation time were sought by the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), bargaining unit for the fire fighters. The commission turned down the vacation issue by a 5-2 vote and rejected the step plan, 6-1. Commissioner Bob Murray voted both times to support the union and he was joined by Commissioner Gigi Arntzen on the vacations. Neither of them is facing election this year, but Commissioners Harriet Crozier and Woody Brown are. Both supported the city's stance. Politics was expected to play a role in the decision by the commission because the fire fighters endorsement has traditionally been sought by candidates and has been thought to play a key role. That idea might have gone on the rocks last November when Curtis Holmes gained a seat on the commission without fire fighters endorsement. Now that politics obviously played no role in Tuesday's proceedings, it could be that the union's only weapon (and this would apply to other city unions as well) has been eliminated. In all, Tuesday's hearing went smoothly, with only one glitch. In setting rules for the procedure, a deadline of August 26 (last Thursday) was set for the submission of all materials relative to the hearing. Tuesday night, as the union's spokesman, Walter Dix, was about to begin his 20-minute presentation a pile of written materials was given to Diane Bruner, the city clerk, who passed it to commission members. Holmes questioned this long after the fact during the commission discussion, pointing out that it violated the agreed upon deadline for submitting materials. Holmes made a brief query to Alan Zimmet, the city's legal officer, mentioning the deadline aspect. Zimmet responded by saying it was not his decision. Of course, Mayor Pat Gerard, as presiding officer, had the power to rule on the matter. She did not, instead, just pushed the materials aside, as did Holmes. Other commission members avidly dug into the material. Proper procedure, according to one observer knowledgeable about such things, would have been to call for a point of order, make the declaration that the submitted material violated the agreed upon procedures and rule it out. As is so often the case, ignorance of proper procedure played out and whatever rules had been adopted went out the window. Other than Holmes's objection, the commissioners proceeded with the business at hand. Henry Schubert, an assistant city manager, followed Dix with the city's case and each side then had five minutes for rebuttal. There was very little public comment. Schubert emphasized the bleak economic situation. He revealed that the average cost per fire fighter to the city is $102,000, which is rather startling in a city where the mean family income is something like $45,000. Now the agreement as set forth by the commission goes to union members for ratification. If it is ratified it will be effective until September 30, 2012. A negative vote will impose the contract with an ending date at the end of this month and then negotiations will start again. But the step plan and vacation issues will be excluded. They are now decided. All other aspects have been agreed to, such negotiations a month from now should be swift. Other than whatever political sway the union can muster in its endorsement of candidates, the union - unlike those in the private sector - has no power - that is, it cannot strike. Those who watch Largo politics now wonder if the endorsement power is gone for all the unions. It didn't seem to influence Crozier and Brown who will know in 61 days if they will keep their seats on the commission.
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