New Firefighter Contract Means More Staffing for RI Department

MIDDLETOWN, RI—The contract between the firefighters and the town for the single fiscal year, July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020, was ratified at Monday's Town Council meeting along with a new three-year contract.

"This contract guarantees that there'll be additional firefighter staffing immediately as a result of a complete fire department re-organization at no cost, and with the hiring of one new firefighter now and with an additional four firefighters to be hired in conjunction with anticipated federal funding," Town Council President Robert Sylvia said at Monday's Town Council meeting.

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The ratification comes after heated public discussions and contract arbitration hearings between the firefighters union—Middletown Firefighters Local 1933—and the town; a sticking point was the alleged under-staffing of the fire department.

"The direct cost to our taxpayers was dramatically reduced by the modest increases that our firefighters have agreed to receive over the next four years, and I applaud them for that," Sylvia said at Monday's council meeting. "The remaining funding necessary will come from requested federal funding. This council will also re-allocate a portion of the present rescue fund revenue to offset the remaining cost."

When asked the burden for taxpayers now with this four-year contract, Sylvia said via email on Tuesday: "The bottom-line direct impact to our tax-payers is spread out over 2020 - 2021 and 2023."

The federal funding would come (if the application is approved) from the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grants program, Union President John Jordan told The Daily News on Tuesday.

Jordan explained rescue fund revenue: non-Middletown residents who are transported via a Middletown rescue wagon are billed, with the average billing cost falling at approximately $1,500 (though that sum varies). "There's a lot of revenue being lost" when Middletown doesn't transport and a department providing mutual aid does, Jordan said; with beefed-up staffing, both of the department's rescue wagons can be utilized.

"This new agreement with our firefighters includes a cost of living increase of 0 [percent] 2 [percent the second year] 1 and 1 [percent for years three and four] over the next four years. It also includes a total re-organization of our current staffing, minor adjustments in their medical, as well as an annual incentive for them to maintain physical discipline," Sylvia said at Monday's meeting.

An email to Town Administrator Shawn Brown on Tuesday morning was not immediately returned.

The agreement will "reduce dependency on mutual aid," and help to increase public safety, Sylvia added.

"It's a good deal...this is a true partnership," Sylvia said in a phone conversation with The Daily News on Tuesday.

"The main concern [was] about getting more staffing [and] we got more staffing," Jordan said Tuesday in a phone conversation with The Daily News. "Very happy about that."

The Daily News reported previously that the department has 27 firefighters plus the chief, and each shift has five firefighters, a shift captain and civilian dispatcher.

Because one firefighter is often off because of vacation, sick time or other reasons, it is often four firefighters on duty with a captain on each shift, Jordan told The Daily News previously. Former Fire Chief Peter Faerber, who retired in February, had agreed that was often the case with the individual shifts.

Jordan said Tuesday that the shift size has now changed to six firefighters minimum as of the contract ratification. How was this accomplished? "We re-structured the fire department a little to be able to accommodate the six," Jordan said. The additional firefighters added to the department's roster will enable an eight-firefighter minimum shift, Jordan said.

"We're hoping we're not going to have an issue getting it," Jordan said of the federal grant. Effective July 1, 2021, with the SAFER Grant, the department will have an eight-firefighter shift size, Jordan said.

Effective Jan. 1, 2023—without the SAFER Grant—the department will have an eight-firefighter shift size, Jordan said.

In the meantime, the six-firefighter shift sizes allow "another piece of apparatus [to get] out the door now," Jordan said. "We need it all the time [but] it's already proving its worth with this crazy situation that we're in" with COVID-19 concerns.

An eight-firefighter shift size will allow the dispatch of more apparatus and allow the department to "really properly respond" to multiple, simultaneous emergencies, Jordan said.

Interim Fire Chief Robert McCall echoed Jordan's comments.

With the department re-organization and increased shift size "we're able to answer that second call that we weren't able to answer before," McCall said Tuesday. With eight firefighters per shift, the department will have the capability of putting another piece of apparatus in service full-time, he said.

"Overall its great to see the labor union and the town administration, the Town Council and everybody kind of working together now," McCall said when asked to comment on the contract ratification. "The big goal is public safety."

"I certainly feel that this is a good contract for the town," Town Council member Henry "Rick" Lombardi said in a phone conversation with The Daily News on Tuesday. "We needed to get a second rescue on the road...it's a safety issue."

"Firefighters would really like to thank the public for their concern and outreach, and their support," Jordan said. He also thanked the Town Council, especially Sylvia and Vice President Paul Rodrigues.

"We sat down, we worked out our issues and we came to a fair deal," he said. "We have greatly improved our ability to take care of the residents of the town...that was everybody's goal when we came in and sat at the table."

"This agreement not only enhanced the safety within Middletown but also positively impacts the safety on all of Aquidneck Island," Joseph Andriole, president of the Rhode Island State Association of Fire Fighters, said in a press release Tuesday. "We would like to thank all the members of the Middletown Town Council who voted and ratified this agreement...we also would like to thank the taxpayers of Middletown who made public safety a priority."

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