Letter in the
I
understand, as you say, that the firefighters receive 11% when they work a 40
hour work week, but according to the MOU's [contract]
the city has on their site it's even worse than that at the management ranks.
Their chief officers get 13%. Why on earth would a deputy fire chief get a 13%
bonus to work a 40 hour week? They have no shift work that I am aware of, they
are administrators. So why pay the bonus? And are the council members saying
they have to pay the battalion chiefs the same 13% to entice them to work
administrative jobs? To think a fire chief can‘t ask his managers to work any
and all assignments without having to "buy" their loyalty is crazy.
In the real world (private sector) we move managers where we feel the need and
"fit" exists and don't have to pay them a dime more. I would also
like to know how many of these chiefs’ positions with bonus pay are occupied by
people getting ready to retire so they can pad their last year's salary and boost
their retirement. Someone gave away the store here. The letter you posted from
FF was right on. It's the Council that approves these benefits and quite
frankly I have a real problem with what's happened here.
I
keep hearing reference to the salaries being set with a comparison of other
cities. I would be curious what those comparison studies say and whether or not
other fire departments are paying their managers
overtime, giving them all personal use cars, and allowing healthy shift
bonuses. Are the comparisons public documents? They should be. Where do these