EAST PEORIA, Ill. — A long awaited contract agreement for the fire department was reached Tuesday night at the East Peoria City Council meeting.
The vote was 4-0, with Commissioner Dan Decker choosing to abstain but said he supports the contract.
Commissioner Seth Mingus said while there were tentative agreements, there were some things that still needed be worked through.
A second reading on the contract was planned during the council’s previous meeting, however Commissioner Mingus pulled the agenda item beforehand.
“Before the meeting, we had some conversations of maybe we could do this and everybody would be happy. So I pulled it rather than vote on something that wouldn’t be perfect,” Mingus said. “Maybe there is not ever a definition of perfect, but as perfect as we could get it.”
Mingus said one of the items that was changed involves sick time buy out.
“The sick time buy out that had to do with employees who had max sick time, they could sell back some of their time at seventy five cents to the dollar, was taken out,” Mingus said.
Another area of concern with the 5-year contract was salary.
“Instead of getting a 1.5% raise in year one, the fire fighters, all of them, will get a 1.75% raise in year one,” Mingus said.
The firefighters and city council agreed a 5-year long contract would be beneficial. The East Peoria Fire Department has been operating since May of this year with no contract.
The approved contract dates are in effect from May 1, 2019 to April 30, 2024.
After having doubts if Commissioner Decker could vote due to his position on the Fire Department, Commissioner Michael Sutherland said he shocked himself and agreed to the newly proposed contract.
East Peoria Mayor John Kahl said he believes in a fair and good contract for all.
