Board of Aldermen Page 7
May 10, 2016
R-16-026
Endorsers: Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja
Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire
Alderman Benjamin M. Clemons
Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderman-at-Large Daniel T. Moriarty
APPROVING THE COST ITEMS OF A COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT
BETWEEN THE MAYOR AND THE BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS AND
LOCAL #789, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIRE FIGHTERS FROM JULY 1,
2015, THROUGH JUNE 30, 2019, AND RELATED TRANSFERS FROM CONTINGENCY
Given its third reading;
MOTION BY ALDERWOMAN MELIZZI-GOLJA FOR FINAL PASSAGE OF R-16-026
ON THE QUESTION
Alderman Wilshire
| think that this is a fair contract and that over the four years at 1.7%, | think that’s fair. I’m going to support it.
Alderman O’Brien
| will declare a conflict and | will not be voting on this.
Alderman Siegel
| appreciate the efforts of the Commission and the fire department and | actually don’t believe that this is a bad
contract. | voted against it in committee because we do have a spending cap and while this is a great contract
we are in this impossible position. | feel like | am voting against it because | am trying to be consistent in
pushing for the pension legislation that | have. It would be inconsistent for me on the one hand to push for
something like that which is specifically targeted and yet approve a contract which is higher than that number,
despite my personal feelings about whether or not a good faith effort was done in negotiating it and certainly
not a reflection about what was done by the department. | would point out that it’s not fair to compare this to
the supervisor's contract that we voted on because we really didn’t have a choice in rejecting that. We were
sort of forced into that because there’s a “me too” clause. We don’t have that here otherwise | would be voting
exactly the same way as | did with the police supervisors contract given that we wouldn’t have a choice. |
apologize for the need to be consistent.
Alderman Clemons
| think this is a fair contract. | think that the bargaining unit did a lot of compromising, especially taking a 0% in
one year, recognizing the fact that the city is going through a really tough time with the spending cap and |
appreciate that and | am proud to endorse this legislation and proud to give my support of it.
Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja
| understand Alderman Siegel's concerns and for me it’s not about fairness, | think that we just have to look at
what our responsibility is here and often those of us sitting around this horseshoe have competing
responsibilities and it’s to maintain a livable tax rate for the residents of this city. At the same time we have a
responsibility to make sure that we are providing them and their property, be it homeowner’s or business
owners with the protection they need. | think the fire department is experiencing retirements which mean there
will be new members that we are going to be competing for and we need to provide the department with the
tools they need to be competitive in getting the best firefighters we can get for the City of Nashua. Firefighting
is this city is not a one formula thing; we’ve got many companies that use materials like chemicals and gases
