OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

El Paso Fire Department Contract Negotiations - April 28, 2026

Boards & CommissionsTuesday, April 28, 2026
BodyEl Paso, Texas
SessionBoards & Commissions
DateTuesday, April 28, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 36:40

Transcript — Verbatim
0:00

Make sure we have the microphone up close because it's due in the transcribe so we can have record of the meetings.

0:05

Um thank you all for coming out today.

0:06

Thanks for sending over that information this morning.

0:09

Um we have a presentation we're gonna run through.

0:12

We can pull that up.

0:51

Technical difficulties that's why I had avocado toast.

1:29

Sure, thank you.

1:36

So the presenters today, I guess so they can introduce yourself themselves and let you know what where they're from and what department they're from.

1:42

I think we've got a couple of new faces.

1:50

Sure.

1:51

I'm Monica Kretchmar.

1:52

I work in Central HR under Mary Wiggins, the Chief Human Resources Officer.

1:58

Hello everyone, Randy Marker.

1:59

I'm with the fire department, been with the department for 13 years.

2:04

Hi, good afternoon, Sasha Andonoski.

2:06

I'm with the Office of Management and Budget, and I will be presenting a couple of slides today.

2:16

Good afternoon, Robert Cortinas, Chief Financial Officer and Deputy City Manager.

2:23

I assume that's a deputy city manager.

2:38

James Younger, uh thirst third vice president of local 51.

2:47

Secretary Treasurer Local 51.

2:51

Jay Nicholson, President Local 51.

2:55

Jesse Estherline, second vice president, local fifty-one.

3:04

Trey Megason, uh Steward local 51.

3:11

Welcome and thank you for coming in today.

3:13

Thank you for having us.

3:14

Get this up shortly.

3:40

Yeah, thank you.

3:48

So real quick, I'm gonna just go over the agenda before I pass it on.

3:52

We're gonna do the recap of what you proposed last week.

3:55

We didn't include anything you sent over this morning, so to just be catching up from last week.

3:59

We're gonna have OMB go over the estimated cost of that proposal that you brought in last week.

4:03

We're gonna go have uh the team go over turnover recruitment and retention, and then some of the comparative analysis we've done with the with the comparative cities and the EIR ERI formula and what how they used it and how they got to that point.

4:17

And then there'll be a city proposal, and then we'll pass it on to you all for what you submitted this morning if you'd like to go over that.

4:23

Okay, thank you.

4:37

Okay, again, Sasha Andonosky, Office of Management and Budget.

4:40

Uh so this is uh the proposal that you uh gave us uh on uh 4-7 2026.

4:47

And I will just go quickly uh over your uh request.

5:00

Uh so number one was uh compensation or call increases of 7.5 percent uh for every year uh for the uh for the life of the of the next contract, which is 150 percent uh over the current contract, the current contract calls for three percent of uh colour.

5:10

Uh then we have uh increase of paramedic assignment pay from five percent to ten percent, uh field training officer pay at uh five percent uh above normal pay.

5:21

Uh you're asking for bilingual pay of 500 per year, medical mentor pay at uh five percent above normal salary by participating, communications assignment pay five percent, increase above normal pay, uh education pay increase uh for all levels by fifty dollars per month, uh increase to longevity pay uh from five dollars to ten dollars per month.

5:47

Uh Texas commission on fire protection certification pay by $50 per month.

5:54

Uh you're asking for fed uh uh flight medical and critical care paramedics incentive pay of uh PUP for five percent plus plus five percent for a total of ten percent while working on a ground critical care transport unit unit and pay of PUP five percent plus ten percent for a total of fifteen percent while working uh as a paramedic on an aircraft transport unit.

6:19

Uh speciality teams incentive space increased from 75 per month to 100 per uh dollars for per month and adding critical care paramedics and peer support members uh stuck at maximum of two teams for potential maximum for total of 300 dollars.

6:37

And uh last uh uh request uh ask is increase uh for working out of class pay uh to 10 percent.

6:47

Next slide.

6:48

So we did uh estimation of the variance uh for the proposal.

6:55

And uh so I can explain the way how this slide works.

6:58

So this is showing the variance from the previous year.

7:02

So uh the year the the date that you see that you see there, 9-1 2026 is the beginning of our fiscal year, uh, which corresponds with fiscal year 2027.

7:13

Uh so that number that you see there uh compares with our projection for fiscal year 2026 that will end of on August 31st, 2025, 2026.

7:25

And then we go forward 91 2027 corresponds with our fiscal year 2028, 91 2028 correspond with our fiscal year 2029, and 91 2029 corresponds with our fiscal year 2030.

7:42

Uh so we said we separated uh the the variances by categories.

7:47

Uh we are including cola and the fire step increases in the separate categories uh for better visibility, and then we in we are including incentive pay and and earnings in a separate category.

7:59

And at the bottom you do have uh the benefits uh uh the benefits variance.

8:06

Uh so we are looking at at total for the first year of variance of 16.6 million dollars, uh, which includes call out 7.5 percent.

8:16

As I mentioned, uh current cola is three percent uh which is 150 percent increase from the from the current contract.

8:24

Uh the first year has uh the highest uh variance because uh as you can see the the incentives right now uh we are we the is usually the incentives are uh we are calculating them based on the current contract.

8:40

So when you compare previous years with versus uh next year, the biggest variance will be in the first year.

8:47

So then when we go to the next years, you you already have the base and then year to next uh year to year.

8:54

Uh first uh uh second year of the contract, we are seeing increase of 14.2 million dollars, and then it will it will slightly start increasing again.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Personnel Matters█████████████████████████████████████████████81%
Firefighter Health and Safety██████10%
Procedural█████9%
Summary of Proceedings

El Paso Fire Department Contract Negotiations - April 28, 2026

The city and Local 51 union met to continue negotiations on the next collective bargaining agreement. The city presented a cost analysis of the union's proposal, turnover and recruitment data, a comparative pay analysis using ERI data, and a counterproposal. The union presented proposed changes to the CBA regarding examinations, promotions, and drug/alcohol testing policy.

Cost Estimate of Union's Proposal

  • Sasha Andonoski (OMB) presented the cost variance of the union's proposal (submitted April 7, 2026) over the current contract. The union requested 7.5% COLA each year (150% increase over current 3%), plus various incentive pay increases (paramedic, FTO, bilingual, etc.). The estimated total variance over the four-year contract is $65.8 million, with first-year variance of $16.6 million.

Turnover and Recruitment

  • Randy Marker (Fire Department) reported that turnover has remained at or below 6% over the past four fiscal years, improving to 5% in FY25. Class 107 is scheduled to begin September 21, 2026 with 65 trainees and 15 alternates, expected to graduate April 2027.

Comparative Pay Analysis

  • Monica Kretchmar (HR) explained that the city uses ERI geographic assessor data to compare wages from nine comparator cities (Albuquerque, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Phoenix, San Antonio, Tucson, Corpus Christi) adjusted to El Paso's cost of living. For firefighter rank, the city's adjusted maximum is ranked 4th (slightly above average) and adjusted minimum is ranked 6th (slightly below average). For fire suppression technician, adjusted minimum rank is 9th, maximum rank is 4th. For captain, adjusted minimum rank 8th, maximum rank 6th. 54% of uniform employees are at step 11 (max step), with 215 eligible for retirement (tier one).

City's Counterproposal

  • The city proposed a 2% COLA for each of the next four years, along with restructuring steps to increase entry-level salaries for firefighter, FST, battalion chief, deputy chief, and assistant chief, and adding a new step. The proposal also includes flight medical paramedic assignment pay of 5%. The total estimated cost of the city's proposal over the life of the contract is $37.7 million.

Union Proposals on CBA Language

  • James Younger (Local 51) presented several proposed changes:
    • Examinations and Promotions: Cleanup language to change "days" to "calendar days" for vacancy requirements; clarifying that three points will be added to promotional exam score for locally credentialed paramedic certification; requiring rank-specific testing and standardized procedures to prevent skipping over qualified personnel.
    • Drug and Alcohol Testing Policy: Consolidate appendices G, H, I into one clear document. Also, two specific proposals: (1) employees not at fault for a motor vehicle accident should not be required to submit to post-accident drug/alcohol testing; (2) instead of a 30-day suspension and mandatory rehab, employees who test positive should only receive a 30-day suspension if they fail to complete a city-approved rehab program within 180 days. Relapse or second positive test would lead to up to termination.

Key Outcomes

  • The city will provide proposed pay scales by late next week.
  • The union will prepare information on overtime and the extra board for the next meeting.
  • The city will also prepare medical benefits information as requested.
  • The next meeting is scheduled for May 1, 2026.

Meeting Transcript

Make sure we have the microphone up close because it's due in the transcribe so we can have record of the meetings. Um thank you all for coming out today. Thanks for sending over that information this morning. Um we have a presentation we're gonna run through. We can pull that up. Technical difficulties that's why I had avocado toast. Sure, thank you. So the presenters today, I guess so they can introduce yourself themselves and let you know what where they're from and what department they're from. I think we've got a couple of new faces. Sure. I'm Monica Kretchmar. I work in Central HR under Mary Wiggins, the Chief Human Resources Officer. Hello everyone, Randy Marker. I'm with the fire department, been with the department for 13 years. Hi, good afternoon, Sasha Andonoski. I'm with the Office of Management and Budget, and I will be presenting a couple of slides today. Good afternoon, Robert Cortinas, Chief Financial Officer and Deputy City Manager. I assume that's a deputy city manager. James Younger, uh thirst third vice president of local 51. Secretary Treasurer Local 51. Jay Nicholson, President Local 51. Jesse Estherline, second vice president, local fifty-one. Trey Megason, uh Steward local 51. Welcome and thank you for coming in today. Thank you for having us. Get this up shortly. Yeah, thank you. So real quick, I'm gonna just go over the agenda before I pass it on. We're gonna do the recap of what you proposed last week. We didn't include anything you sent over this morning, so to just be catching up from last week. We're gonna have OMB go over the estimated cost of that proposal that you brought in last week. We're gonna go have uh the team go over turnover recruitment and retention, and then some of the comparative analysis we've done with the with the comparative cities and the EIR ERI formula and what how they used it and how they got to that point. And then there'll be a city proposal, and then we'll pass it on to you all for what you submitted this morning if you'd like to go over that. Okay, thank you. Okay, again, Sasha Andonosky, Office of Management and Budget. Uh so this is uh the proposal that you uh gave us uh on uh 4-7 2026. And I will just go quickly uh over your uh request. Uh so number one was uh compensation or call increases of 7.5 percent uh for every year uh for the uh for the life of the of the next contract, which is 150 percent uh over the current contract, the current contract calls for three percent of uh colour. Uh then we have uh increase of paramedic assignment pay from five percent to ten percent, uh field training officer pay at uh five percent uh above normal pay. Uh you're asking for bilingual pay of 500 per year, medical mentor pay at uh five percent above normal salary by participating, communications assignment pay five percent, increase above normal pay, uh education pay increase uh for all levels by fifty dollars per month, uh increase to longevity pay uh from five dollars to ten dollars per month. Uh Texas commission on fire protection certification pay by $50 per month. Uh you're asking for fed uh uh flight medical and critical care paramedics incentive pay of uh PUP for five percent plus plus five percent for a total of ten percent while working on a ground critical care transport unit unit and pay of PUP five percent plus ten percent for a total of fifteen percent while working uh as a paramedic on an aircraft transport unit. Uh speciality teams incentive space increased from 75 per month to 100 per uh dollars for per month and adding critical care paramedics and peer support members uh stuck at maximum of two teams for potential maximum for total of 300 dollars. And uh last uh uh request uh ask is increase uh for working out of class pay uh to 10 percent. Next slide. So we did uh estimation of the variance uh for the proposal. And uh so I can explain the way how this slide works. So this is showing the variance from the previous year. So uh the year the the date that you see that you see there, 9-1 2026 is the beginning of our fiscal year, uh, which corresponds with fiscal year 2027. Uh so that number that you see there uh compares with our projection for fiscal year 2026 that will end of on August 31st, 2025, 2026.

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