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NILES -- City firefighters have been working for two years under an expired labor contract and negotiations have not yet led to a new one.
An agreement reached between the city and the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 320 expired at the end of 2014, and negotiations have been off and on since then.
One fact finding session has been held, and another is scheduled in the few weeks before a fact finders report is published. If an agreement is not reached before then, the two parties will enter binding arbitration.
Safety Service Director Jim DePasquale estimated the city has spent $100,000 with Clemans Nelson & Associates, the law firm the city is using to negotiate this and several different contracts. The contract for ranking members in the police department was decided last year after a lengthy process.
According to the Jan. 18 Board of Control meeting minutes, the city allocated $15,000 for legal services to the firm. A check report for December states the city wrote checks for more than $14,000 to the firm.
One of the first versions of the city's fiscal recovery plan requires the city to use outside legal counsel to negotiate labor contracts.
Mayor Tom Scarnecchia said he is not directly involved in negotiations and he wasn't sure what he could specifically say while negotiations are ongoing.
"Negotiations are sensitive; I don't want to hurt either side," Scarnecchia said.
He said he would like to sit down with the attorneys at Clemans and Nelson and discuss what sticking points are keeping a new contract from forming. Scarnecchia said he hasn't given the firm any hardlines to stick to.
Attorney Matt Baker, with the Dublin-based firm, said while the negotiations are not attended by the mayor, they are driven by him.
Members of the fire department haven't had a pay raise since 2008, 22-year veteran Jory Ramer said at the Jan. 18 council meeting. The department was the first to offer a pay freeze when the city started experiencing financial problems, Ramer said.
Ramer said he was concerned that proposals from the firm contain language reminiscent of SB 5 -- the Ohio Senate bill cutting union collective bargaining rights that voters overwhelming repealed months after it was passed in 2011.
The firm specializes in labor law and negotiations, Baker said, and negotiations are not being driven by any political agenda or any effort to bring SB 5 language into the fire department's contract.
Ramer said the administration should set parameters for the firm to follow in negotiations in order to expedite the process and to ensure the fire department is being treated fairly.
Scarnecchia said Ramer made some valid points.