Special City Council Meeting – Collective Bargaining with Firefighters Local 279 – February 25, 2025
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Special City Council Meeting – Collective Bargaining with Firefighters Local 279 – February 25, 2025
This special meeting was convened at 4:30 PM on February 25, 2025, to conduct collective labor bargaining with the Cheyenne Professional Fire Fighters, International Association of Fire Fighters, Local No. 279. Nine of ten council members were present, establishing a quorum. The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance and a roll call. The primary agenda item was the review and discussion of proposed contract changes for the next collective bargaining agreement.
Discussion Items
- Opening Remarks and Ground Rules: Mayor Collins and union representative Vince expressed mutual appreciation for the ongoing labor-management meetings, noting that weekly discussions over the past several months built trust and understanding. The ground rules for negotiation (team members, caucus procedures, etc.) were reviewed and accepted by both parties.
- Reorganization and New Captain Position: The proposed contract includes a reorganization of the fire department, adding the rank of captain (up to four positions) and adjusting the number of lieutenants from 21 to 18. Definitions were updated to remove specific dates and instead reference current civil service rules. The term "specialty team" was expanded to "specialty operations teams" with limits on membership and definitions for coordinator, team lead, and team members.
- Management Rights – Vacation/EOD Payout: The city proposed a management right to pay out a member's unused vacation or EOD (Employee Optional Day) credits exceeding 240 hours at the time of promotion, step increase, or transfer. This is intended to prevent stockpiling EOD for retirement and to pay at a lower rate than at career end. The provision also covers vacation banked due to illness/injury that cannot be used.
- Cost of Living Adjustment (Section 21): The existing COLA language was retained, with the term updated to June 30, 2026.
- Step Requirements and Pay Consolidation: Step requirements were consolidated under one heading, and pay rates were simplified from four decimal places to two decimal places for clarity.
- Advanced EMT Pay: A new pay scale was introduced for Advanced EMTs, with a maximum of three years at that pay level. The fire chief may extend the timeframe if paramedic school capacity is limited. The goal is to have a paramedic on every engine; the AEMT position is an intermediate step.
- EMS Pay for Daytime Personnel: Daytime members who respond to medical calls may receive full EMS pay at the chief's discretion, aligning with the reorganization.
- Specialty Teams Expansion: The contract now recognizes wildland firefighting, tactical EMS (TEMS), and community paramedicine teams, in addition to existing hazmat and technical rescue teams. Pay scales for coordinators, team leads, and members were updated.
- Acting Certification Pay: Increased from $0.44/hour for one rank above to $0.66/hour for two ranks above, with a clause that only one certification pay applies.
- EOD Cap Equalization: The cap on EOD hours for members hired after July 1, 2019, was removed, bringing all members to 480 hours. The use period was changed from calendar year to payroll year (deadline January 20th).
- Conversion Factor for Daytime Personnel: Sick time, EOD, and sick leave bonuses will now use a conversion factor to make benefits equitable between platoon (2,920 hours/year) and daytime (2,080 hours/year) employees.
- Expanded Physical Exams (Section 25): The contract specifies comprehensive annual physicals based on NFPA 1582 guidelines, including low-dose CT scans and other cancer screenings performed through Colorado State University in Fort Collins. Members will attend off-duty for extensive tests. A definitive exit physical is also included.
- Sick Leave Alignment (Section 27): Sick leave language was updated to match the city handbook, allowing use for immediate family illness without a three-day cap. A doctor's note may be requested after three consecutive working shifts (instead of two) to account for the 48/96 schedule.
- Longevity Pay (Section 42): Pay rates were simplified to two decimal places.
- Signature Blocks and Dates: Updated for the new contract term.
Key Outcomes
- Tentative Agreement Reached: Both the city council (nine of ten members present) and the union indicated they were comfortable with the proposed contract changes and expressed a desire to move forward. The union can sign the contract immediately; the city must formalize approval through a future council vote.
- Next Steps: The city clerk will place the contract on a future city council agenda for formal approval. Once passed, the agreement will be signed. The meeting adjourned with thanks from both sides.
Meeting Transcript
All right, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to call this uh first meeting of collective bargaining uh to order. And I think the first thing we need to do is call role. Dr. Rennie, Mr. Royble? Here. Mr. Seagrave, Mr. White, present, Dr. Aldrich, present, Mayor Collins. Present. Dr. Emmons, Mr. Escapel. Here. Mr. Layborn. Mr. Moody. Present. One member is absent. We do have a quorum. Thank you. No, it doesn't say here, but we typically do say the pledge. And I think we probably should do that again today. So let's all join in the pledge. Madam Clerk, if you want to read the item in. Collective labor bargaining with Cheyenne Professional Firefighters, International Association of Firefighters, Local Number 279. All right. And Vince, did you get a chance to look through those? I did. We find them acceptable. Okay. I'm telling you. It's a big bullet too. Would you hand that up to the clerk, please? Oh. I can do that, I guess. Um so we uh we agree to uh the terms for our negotiation, who the team members will be, who can speak. Um, how long we can caucus, uh just the basic things to uh uh to get through the uh the negotiations. We haven't really needed a lot of ground rules for the last three years, so I guess we kind of quit talking about them too much, but it is part of our process. So um, you know, if if we uh need to get to step out and caucus, uh we can ask for that. Uh we'll go over to room 104. Uh the union can go over to uh um the HR conference room. We can sit and talk and then come back and and uh and get back after it. So does that help? Okay. Well, maybe I can start off a little bit and just um maybe first thing I'd like to do is just start off with a couple of thanks. Um, a few years ago we started a maybe a new process for negotiations. Uh the contract talks about our ability to have uh labor management conversations, and it requires us to have a minimum of once a quarter, but we've decided that you know, through some of these periods of time, maybe weekly makes more sense, where we can get an opportunity to get together and maybe truly understand each other's side a little bit more, things that are important to the union members and the firefighters, um, but also the economic conditions and the uh and the limitations that we have.
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