(From left) Bloomington Fire Chief Jason Moore and Bloomington Metropolitan Firefighters Union President Jordan Canada.
(Lucas Gonzalez, WFIU/WTIU News)
The Bloomington fire union has reached a compromise with the fire department and city administration over concerns it had about potential new hires.
Tensions were apparent at a city council meeting last week when members of Bloomington Metropolitan Firefighters Union Local 586 spoke against a proposal to add three community paramedics and move a sworn firefighter to the position of assistant chief of operations.
But by Wednesday, the union and administration had agreed to have those items removed from council consideration — at least for now.
The new hires were among several items included in a pair of salary ordinances covering first responders and municipal employees. The council initially planned to vote on both last week but agreed to postpone its decision by a week because of concerns union members expressed.
Last night, the council adopted both ordinances with amendments that removed the three EMTs and assistant chief of operations from consideration.
Bloomington Fire Chief Jason Moore said that upon speaking with union representatives after last week, he realized more time was needed to iron out the details of the proposal — so he and city administration requested the amendments.
He plans to bring both proposals back to the council later.
“I am in full support of adding these positions with the future issues that our fire department is facing, but at this time, I would like additional time to work with our firefighters and administrative staff to make sure that this is a good fit and that we are hearing their concerns,” Moore said. “This is to give us time and to allow us to work with staff to make sure that this is handled so that there is no longer a public fight over something that is for the ultimate good of our community.”
Fire Chief Jason Moore. (Lucas González, WFIU/WTIU News).
Union members said the new hires could be beneficial in the future, but they objected to the proposal now partially because of the timing.
Shaun Huttenlocker, the union’s secretary-treasurer, said it comes at a time when the department is facing critical shortages, as many firefighters are leaving to work for higher-paying departments.
“As we looked into it a little more, it did not seem as though there was going to be any real impact to this current staffing crisis by bringing on these additional employees,” said Huttenlocker. “At this moment in time, our foundation is crumbling; so, it doesn’t seem to make much sense to me to build on top of that building while the foundation is crumbling.”
Shaun Huttenlocker, union secretary-treasurer. (Lucas González, WFIU/WTIU News)
Union members also said they were concerned by how the new hires may affect sworn firefighters who serve on what’s known as the “squad”, a quick-response vehicle. The squad consists of two firefighters who respond to EMS calls in the downtown area and handle safety and accountability duties at fire scenes.
The squad was created in 2017 after Moore took over as fire chief the previous year. Moore said the squad often responds to non-critical medical emergencies because of a local shortage of ambulances.
Due to current staffing shortages, the battalion chief may occasionally take the squad offline temporarily, according to Moore. During that time, the squad will not respond to any calls. It is meant to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“We have given the battalion chiefs that authority to make that (decision) in order to prevent additional forced overtimes,” Moore said. “It is never something that our fire department likes to drop below what we consider minimum staffing; but knowing that it was the newest resource and that it would have the least impact to the citizens, it was a calculated risk that we did.”
Moore said the main concern union members have expressed is that new hires might eventually replace the squad.
Union President Jordan Canada said he learned of the proposal just days before the council first planned to vote on it.
“There was no communication from our city administration or fire administration on this proposal,” Canada said. “In past practice, they have communicated with us their ideas and (we’ve had) pretty good working relationships. To find this out kind of blindsided was a big issue that we took.”
Union President Jordan Canada. (Lucas González, WFIU/WTIU News)
Before the new positions were removed from consideration, Canada said the proposal might have resulted in a contract violation if approved.
“We had, in our contract, negotiated certification pay to be on the squad — and that is something that is taken very seriously by our members, and it’s pushed as a requirement to do those duties.” Canada said. “To have that kind of removed and replaced by one ops chief and then the EMS side be handled by civilians, I was concerned for our quality.”
The union was also concerned about the finances of the proposal. The total fiscal impact of changes sought by fire and city administration is more than $400,000 annually, according to estimates from the city.
“This administration can find money for other positions but cannot find it for the firefighters that have been loyal to this community through the pandemic,” Canada said. “This has been rushed and just poorly handled in general. We need time to push this back, talk about it, find out what the goal is and the game plan on how to execute.”
Moore said a new assistant chief of operations could handle safety and accountability as the department grapples with an exodus of firefighters. However, he has verbally committed to not getting rid of the squad.
“We cannot be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Moore said. “This is a vital position that is needed (but) knowing that it has to be drawn from internal staff when we are at a staffing crisis, I have concerns as to how we can fill it.”
Moore did not say when he planned to revisit the proposals but said he would work more collaboratively with the staff in the future.
The union said it wants the city administration to commit to addressing its concerns.
