Board of Aldermen 12-08-2020 Page 25
The firefighters have negotiated in good faith, the City has negotiated in good faith and | think it’s time that
we, as Aldermen, continue to do our jobs and uphold the decision that we’ve already made.
President Wilshire
Thank you Alderman Lopez. Alderman Cleaver.
Alderman Cleaver
Yes thank you. This is way past due and this is the second time, this is the second contract. In my mind is
not divisible it was negotiated as a package it should remain as a package. It has strong support from the
Board of Fire Commissioners, each member and strong support from the Union itself, of course. And |
think it has strong support from the Board of Aldermen, | hope. And it’s time to move it along and give them
what they deserve. So | strongly urge my fellow members to override this veto.
President Wilshire
Alderman Jette?
Alderman Jette
Thank you, Madam President. I’ve got a couple of things I'd like to talk about. First of all, Commissioner
Garant said some things about the Mayor and the Administration, the Finance Department, you know, that
the Mayor was misleading us. | see that Director Kleiner is on the line and she participated in that and |
would like to ask her to respond to what Commissioner Garant said.
President Wilshire
Director Kleiner do you wish to respond?
Kim Kleiner, Director of Administrative Services
Yes, Madam President. Thank you very much. Mayor Donchess, Cheryl Lindner, |, Attorney Clarke, did
attend a session with the Board of Fire Commissioners. The intent of that conversation was strictly to alert
the Fire Commission to our concerns about healthcare. Never during that conversation was there any
mention of giving any type of financial consideration for members switching to the high deductible health
plan. Back in March when the City looked at the cost and it was determined that we needed to start to
mitigate some of these costs, we developed with our consultants a very in-depth plan, looking across the
City, looking at all labor groups on how to do that. And clearly it was decided considering our consultant’s
advice to move forward with the redesign on the HMO. And that is the only financial considerations that the
City has looked at and it’s with very good reason. It is not the advice of our consultant to offer financial
considerations for the high deductible health plan.
President Wilshire
All set, Alderman Jette?
Alderman Jette
| have another comment. Commissioner Garant also called me out for saying that firefighters, that a new
firefighter right out of high school could start at $50,000.00 without any training and | did say that at the last
meeting. And he’s right, | was wrong when | said that. Alderman Klee said she thought that firefighters had
to be certified and so after the meeting | did look into that, | talked to Chief Rhodes and | found out that I’m
not sure about this, | don’t think it’s a State Law that firefighters have to be certified before they start
employment, but in fact in Nashua, Chief Rhodes told me that we don’t hire anyone who is less than a
