By SCOTT SMITH
A massive rally may have been enough to restart talks over the fate of 16 laid-off city firefighters Monday.
A walk from Foster Park to City Hall, attended by an estimated 500 people, brought the issue squarely into the lap of the Kokomo Common Council.
Council President Mike Kennedy, D-At Large, told the assembled audience, “We’ll just continue to work until we get a solution. We just can’t stop,” after pledging council support for an ad-hoc “public safety” committee.
Kokomo Firefighters Local 396 vice president Jeremy Shaw set the tone for the march to City Hall, telling those assembled to be respectful and peaceful.
But the emotions sparked by the firefighter layoffs couldn’t be entirely contained at the council meeting.
“It makes me very angry when I hear the mayor say ‘I feel comfortable’ with the level of public safety,” area nursing director Pat Bartley said during the meeting, asking Goodnight — who also addressed the meeting — how he’d feel if he had to wait for an ambulance with a distressed family.
There was back and forth between Goodnight and council members Kevin Summers, R-At Large, and Bob Cameron, D-2nd, both of whom have championed the firefighters’ cause.
And there was an offer of unspecified concessions — in return for a no-layoff clause in a contract, made by at least one of the firefighters still on the job.
Additional negotiations to save at least some of the firefighters’ jobs seemed a good possibility Monday, after Thomas Hanify, president of the Professional Firefighters Union of Indiana, confirmed he’d been in talks with Goodnight Sunday evening.
Those talks included three council members, Shaw, and Local 396 president Rick Daily.
What Hanify urged at Monday’s council meeting is similar to the message he has delivered in Muncie, where the city administration was ready to cut 40 firefighting jobs until last-minute negotiations began.
Hanify said a citizens’ committee teamed up with firefighters, council members and two township trustees to offer concessions and consolidation measures.
According to an ad placed in The Star Press of Muncie, those measures would save Muncie $2.5 million over the next three years if implemented, and would reduce the number of jobs cut from 40 to 16.
In Kokomo Monday, it was Kennedy responding positively to Hanify’s plea for more talks that cut the ice with the assembled audience.
United Auto Workers Local 685 President Rich Boruff and Local 282 President Ginny McMillin spoke on behalf of the firefighters.
“We will do anything we can to work through this, but there is some urgency,” Hanify said, referring to the fact 16 Kokomo firefighters — all sitting up front, wearing numbers 1 through 16 on their T-shirts — currently are unemployed.
“And there has to be some trust,” Hanify said, suggesting “bad feelings” had arisen during contract negotiations.
“This isn’t good for anybody, this public conflict. Everybody has to get on the same page to fix it.”
“It’s gotta happen, and hopefully we’ll find some equitable solution,” Kennedy agreed. “I hope we can do it — I don’t want this every day.”
The last remark drew sympathetic laughter from the audience, many of whom were hoping the council can bridge the gap between the administration and the firefighters’ union.
In Muncie, firefighters now are offering a total of $100,000 a year in salary concessions, and have agreed to reduce the number of fire stations from nine to six.
But in Kokomo, there’s little indication either side has moved much from the positions taken this winter, when the firefighters insisted on receiving raises they’d won in arbitration.
There’s also no agreement between Goodnight and Center Township Trustee Jean Lushin on continuing the township’s fire protection agreement.
Lushin said at the rally he expected a decision could be reached today. Goodnight has been pressing Lushin for cash to help close the city’s estimated $2.5 million budget deficit, while Lushin has suggested he’ll contract with area volunteer departments if the city’s demands are unreasonable.
In addition, Goodnight has declined to propose any increase in city trash fees, an idea now being floated by Cameron, Summers and the firefighters. Goodnight said any move to institute a trash fee will have to come from the city council.
Also Monday, Goodnight gave a not-so-subtle reminder that other city jobs have been lost in the current fiscal crisis.
In all, Goodnight said 83 full- and part-time positions have been cut, including 33 positions covered by collective bargaining agreements.
He began his remarks by asking council members to meet him for lunch Friday at the Kokomo Early Learning Center.
The learning center, founded in 1972, will be closing its doors for good Friday, after council members decided the city couldn’t afford to continue offering that service. When Goodnight took office in 2008, the center had 30 full- and part-time employees.
Scott Smith is a Kokomo Tribune staff writer. He may be reached at (765) 454-8569 or via e-mail at scott.smith@kokomotribune.com
