OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

City of El Paso and Firefighters Union Local 51 Contract Negotiation Meeting - August 26, 2026

Boards & CommissionsWednesday, August 26, 2026
BodyEl Paso, Texas
SessionBoards & Commissions
DateWednesday, August 26, 2026
StatusNEW · FILED
Video Record
0:00 / 56:26

Transcript — Verbatim
0:57

Good afternoon.

0:58

Thanks for coming out today.

1:01

Good afternoon.

1:02

We gotta how you guys doing.

1:04

Got a short power point.

1:34

Good afternoon.

1:35

Uh first we'll go through some of the pending items that we have left over from the meeting on July 14th.

1:43

So the first item uh that was still tabled was uh discussion regarding the FTO coordinators.

1:50

So we're changing the language to say three FTO coordinators per shift is our counter proposal.

1:57

Are we in agreement?

2:06

Thank you.

2:09

The next pending item that we had was item number twenty eight.

2:15

And I believe you all just provided us with a handout.

2:19

Twenty-six, thank you.

2:20

And you just provide us with a handout for additional information.

2:23

So we'll go back and confirm that this they match that the counts that you provided match what we did.

2:28

We also are recommending adding the language that's highlighted in red or in red font that the credit amount will be equal to, and then we'll review of course the numbers.

2:40

But we'll also include that language.

2:42

Yes, ma'am, sounds good.

2:45

And then the other pending item that we had tabled from our last meeting is um regarding the committees.

2:54

And so in each of the committees, we're going to ensure that there's similar language regarding recommending best practices.

3:03

The committee in this case is the medical wellness advisory committee, and the committee would recommend to develop best practices for annual physicals as listed there.

3:14

And then also an important point was that was asked was to keep minutes of all committee meetings and uh provide an annual report to both the fire chief and the association.

3:26

In addition, we had changed and already had agreed to the number of committee members, which was nine members.

3:33

Um and then also that there must be a minimum of five for quorum.

3:45

Yes, ma'am, just one question.

3:49

Uh in our previous meeting there was a line that was struck in the your previous proposal.

3:55

And it's not present in this proposal.

3:58

So is the can we make the assumption that NFP of 1582 being not adopted but being used as a guiding document will include the ability to discuss uh the selection of medical professionals to guide these programs.

4:15

So yes, all those all those reference materials can be used for the recommendations that are brought up to the uh through the committee.

4:21

And so that'll fall into the monthly reports to the chief and the association.

4:25

That'll include the annual kickback up so we can follow.

4:29

And basically it's so we're not adopting them, but that's what you're gonna be using for your recommendations, and then how do we fiscally get there is what the committee's task is gonna be.

4:54

We're in agreement.

4:55

Yes.

5:00

And next I'll turn it over to Sasha Andonowski from our Office of Management and Budget.

5:11

Good afternoon, Sasha Andonowski, Office of Management and Budget.

5:15

So in the next couple of slides, we will go to uh through uh city proposal.

5:21

Okay, so our proposal COLA, our proposal is to keep the same uh like the current contract, three percent.

5:33

Uh embedded fire step increase of five five percent.

5:38

Uh we are adding proposing to add uh uh step 12 uh which will start uh in 9-1 2029, which is 2030 fiscal year, and then uh uh so for for health care, uh proposal is ten percent.

6:03

Current current contract code so 22 percent increase in uh health care on the employee site.

6:12

So current concrete proposal 10 percent.

6:15

Uh and then we go down to the what we already accepted, uh seek vacation payoff uh to start uh in seek leave to start in April 2028, vacation payoff to start in December 2028.

6:31

Uh we are proposing to to we are accepting your proposal to increase longevity uh with uh the following dates uh seven and a half dollars in fiscal year 2027 and 2028, increase to ten dollars in fiscal year 2029 and fiscal year 2030 uh for the field training officer.

6:54

Uh we accepted that one.

6:56

Uh we are proposing uh start of the this incentive uh on uh uh 9-1 2027, which is fiscal year 2028, and uh all uh certifications for the education uh that we already accepted uh to start uh at the beginning of uh next fiscal year, which is nine uh one twenty twenty-six or fiscal year twenty twenty-seven.

7:22

This is the same for the special teams uh that we agreed on uh to increase from 75 dollars to 100 dollars.

7:31

So if you go to the next slide.

7:36

This is the total cost of the of the city proposal uh for the four years is forty-two point nine million dollars.

7:49

This is the slide for the health care.

7:51

We already provided this uh this slide.

7:56

As I already mentioned, 10% increase, which is uh which is decreasing from 22 percent to 10 percent.

8:05

And that's it.

8:06

So this is the language that we already shared for uh health savings accounts uh to keep them and at 500 doors and 1000 doors because uh they're they're uh the federal regulation are changing.

8:26

And then uh we'll turn over to the good afternoon, Robert Cortinas.

8:34

Just before we get started on this, just to go back real quickly, just so that you all know on the proposal.

8:40

The la um the longevity and the 12th step are very very expensive to add, particularly adding that 12th step just because you have so many members that are in that range that are hit that uh 12 step when it's added, that alone is over a three million dollar impact.

8:54

And so we've got it basically assuming it's gonna happen over two years essentially because it'll be on the anniversary date, so the full impact will be spread out a lot of it, but adding that 12th step is very very expensive to the city to add that additional step just because the amount of individuals who would receive that.

9:14

So the last section that we wanted to cover again, this is the language that we had previously provided.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Procedural█████████████████████████████████████████████60%
Pension Fund Management███████████████20%
Firefighter Health and Safety███████9%
Personnel Matters██████8%
Budget Equity Analysis██2%
Public Safety1%
Summary of Proceedings

City of El Paso and Firefighters Union Local 51 Contract Negotiation Meeting - August 26, 2026

This meeting was a continuation of collective bargaining negotiations between the City of El Paso and the El Paso Firefighters Association Local 51. The main topics included resolving pending items from the July 14 meeting, reviewing the city's economic proposal, and discussing a proposed financial hardship clause (often referred to as the "Austin Clause"). The union rejected the clause and offered alternative language, and both sides exchanged proposals on pay and benefits.

Pending Items from July 14 Meeting

  • FTO Coordinators: The city proposed changing the language to three Field Training Officer (FTO) coordinators per shift. Agreement was reached.
  • Item 26 (credit amount): The union provided a handout for additional information. The city recommended adding language that the credit amount will be equal to [specific amount to be verified], and numbers will be reviewed. Agreement on the language was reached.
  • Committees: For the Medical Wellness Advisory Committee, both sides agreed to include language on recommending best practices for annual physicals, keeping minutes of all committee meetings, and providing an annual report to both the fire chief and the association. Committee membership set at nine members, with a minimum of five for quorum. Clarification that NFP 1582 will be used as a guiding document for recommendations, not adopted outright.
  • Peer Support and Firestar: Confirmed that peer support is included in the specialty team incentives, as agreed at the previous meeting.

City's Economic Proposal

  • Sasha Andonowski from the Office of Management and Budget presented the city's proposal:
    • COLA: 3% (same as current contract)
    • Embedded fire step increase: 5.5%
    • Addition of Step 12 starting September 1, 2029 (FY2030)
    • Healthcare: Employee share increase from 22% to 10% (city proposing 10%)
    • Sick leave vacation payoff starting April 2028, vacation payoff starting December 2028
    • Longevity increase: $7.50 per month in FY2027 and FY2028, increasing to $10 per month in FY2029 and FY2030 (accepted)
    • Education and certification incentives to start September 1, 2026 (FY2027)
    • Special teams incentive increase from $75 to $100 (agreed)
    • Health savings accounts maintained at $500 for individual and $1,000 for family
    • Total cost of city proposal over four years: $42.9 million.
  • Robert Cortinas, Chief Financial Officer, noted that the longevity and 12th step are very expensive: adding the 12th step alone has an impact of over $3 million due to the number of members affected.

Discussion of Financial Hardship Clause ("Austin Clause")

  • The city proposed a clause that would allow renegotiation if state law changes materially reduce the city's legal authority to generate or expand revenues, or if voters reject a tax rate increase needed to fund the budget. The clause would trigger a 30-day negotiation period; if no agreement, the CFO would report to city council, which could then adjust the agreement for that fiscal year. The clause would only apply in those specific situations.
  • Union Response: Vice President Jesse Esther Land Reese read an official statement rejecting the clause. Reasons included: similar clauses in Austin led to concessions due to Austin's unique financial burdens (phasing in a fourth operational shift, four-person staffing, consolidating EMS), which do not apply to El Paso. The union believes the current collective bargaining agreement already provides for open dialogue and that the clause once implemented would never be removed. The union proposed alternative language to be added to Article 1: "In the event that circumstances outside the control of the city administration arise, to include state legislative action that may negatively impact the terms agreed to within this document, both sides agree to meet and confer to discuss mutually beneficial solutions."
  • The city acknowledged the union's position and agreed to review the proposed alternative language.

Pay and Step Counterproposal

  • The union countered on pay: 4% COLA and immediate implementation of the 12th step (instead of starting in 2029).
  • Robert Cortinas responded that going above 3% would require adjusting other costly items (e.g., step, longevity, sick/vacation payout, incentives) to keep costs balanced. He noted that the new costs from those items total about $6 million per year, and the overall city proposal is about $10 million per year (similar to the police agreement), up from the current $7 million per year. The union clarified that implementing the step on signing date (September 1) would mostly affect members who already reached their annual step, so the full impact would be delayed.
  • Both sides agreed to regroup and come back with new proposals. The meeting ended with plans to send an invite for the next meeting.

Key Outcomes

  • Agreement reached on FTO coordinators (three per shift).
  • Agreement on item 26 credit language pending verification of numbers.
  • Agreement on committee structure: 9 members, quorum of 5, minutes and annual reports, use of NFP 1582 as guiding document.
  • City's economic proposal presented: 3% COLA, Step 12 in 2029, 10% healthcare share, total cost $42.9 million over 4 years.
  • Union rejected the financial hardship clause; city will review union's proposed alternative language.
  • Union counterproposed 4% COLA and immediate Step 12; city indicated trade-offs would be needed.
  • Next meeting to be scheduled.

Meeting Transcript

Good afternoon. Thanks for coming out today. Good afternoon. We gotta how you guys doing. Got a short power point. Good afternoon. Uh first we'll go through some of the pending items that we have left over from the meeting on July 14th. So the first item uh that was still tabled was uh discussion regarding the FTO coordinators. So we're changing the language to say three FTO coordinators per shift is our counter proposal. Are we in agreement? Thank you. The next pending item that we had was item number twenty eight. And I believe you all just provided us with a handout. Twenty-six, thank you. And you just provide us with a handout for additional information. So we'll go back and confirm that this they match that the counts that you provided match what we did. We also are recommending adding the language that's highlighted in red or in red font that the credit amount will be equal to, and then we'll review of course the numbers. But we'll also include that language. Yes, ma'am, sounds good. And then the other pending item that we had tabled from our last meeting is um regarding the committees. And so in each of the committees, we're going to ensure that there's similar language regarding recommending best practices. The committee in this case is the medical wellness advisory committee, and the committee would recommend to develop best practices for annual physicals as listed there. And then also an important point was that was asked was to keep minutes of all committee meetings and uh provide an annual report to both the fire chief and the association. In addition, we had changed and already had agreed to the number of committee members, which was nine members. Um and then also that there must be a minimum of five for quorum. Yes, ma'am, just one question. Uh in our previous meeting there was a line that was struck in the your previous proposal. And it's not present in this proposal. So is the can we make the assumption that NFP of 1582 being not adopted but being used as a guiding document will include the ability to discuss uh the selection of medical professionals to guide these programs. So yes, all those all those reference materials can be used for the recommendations that are brought up to the uh through the committee. And so that'll fall into the monthly reports to the chief and the association. That'll include the annual kickback up so we can follow. And basically it's so we're not adopting them, but that's what you're gonna be using for your recommendations, and then how do we fiscally get there is what the committee's task is gonna be. We're in agreement. Yes. And next I'll turn it over to Sasha Andonowski from our Office of Management and Budget. Good afternoon, Sasha Andonowski, Office of Management and Budget. So in the next couple of slides, we will go to uh through uh city proposal. Okay, so our proposal COLA, our proposal is to keep the same uh like the current contract, three percent. Uh embedded fire step increase of five five percent. Uh we are adding proposing to add uh uh step 12 uh which will start uh in 9-1 2029, which is 2030 fiscal year, and then uh uh so for for health care, uh proposal is ten percent. Current current contract code so 22 percent increase in uh health care on the employee site. So current concrete proposal 10 percent. Uh and then we go down to the what we already accepted, uh seek vacation payoff uh to start uh in seek leave to start in April 2028, vacation payoff to start in December 2028. Uh we are proposing to to we are accepting your proposal to increase longevity uh with uh the following dates uh seven and a half dollars in fiscal year 2027 and 2028, increase to ten dollars in fiscal year 2029 and fiscal year 2030 uh for the field training officer. Uh we accepted that one. Uh we are proposing uh start of the this incentive uh on uh uh 9-1 2027, which is fiscal year 2028, and uh all uh certifications for the education uh that we already accepted uh to start uh at the beginning of uh next fiscal year, which is nine uh one twenty twenty-six or fiscal year twenty twenty-seven. This is the same for the special teams uh that we agreed on uh to increase from 75 dollars to 100 dollars. So if you go to the next slide. This is the total cost of the of the city proposal uh for the four years is forty-two point nine million dollars.

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