Union leaders press Utica council to restore assistant chief to operational role amid contract dispute and 'no confidence' vote

Union leaders and retired officers told a Utica Common Council committee on March 25 that the city’s assistant fire chief position has been repurposed as an additional management post and is harming department operations and morale.

Tom Carcone, president of Local 32, told the committee that union members held a vote of no confidence; "We did have a vote of no confidence. 75 people voted," Carcone said, and reported that 64 of 75 voters expressed no confidence in the assistant chief’s leadership. Carcone and Local 32 lawyer Ron Dunn urged the council to amend proposed legislation that would remove the assistant chief from the department’s table of organization and instead to restore an administrative chief role focused on day-to-day oversight.

The committee heard a memorandum the mayor’s office submitted arguing against eliminating the assistant chief. The mayor’s memo, read into the record by the committee chair, said in part that "removing the assistant chief position from the management of the Utica Fire Department is not one of [the] ways" to reduce cost or liability.

Discussion centered on three linked issues: how the assistant chief position is paid and managed under a 2021 agreement, firefighters’ complaints about how on-duty injuries and 207-a claims have been handled, and the structure and staffing of the fire prevention / fire marshal office.

On the contract and legal questions, Corporation Counsel Charles Brown and committee members discussed the interaction of the city charter, civil service law and state labor law. Ron Dunn said the Taylor Law and the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) are the channels for any union challenge and that PERB rules limit public employees’ ability to strike. Dunn also told the committee he believed that "when the city makes an agreement with Local 32, they ought to live up to it, and they haven't."

Council members and union witnesses described specific operational and personnel concerns. Former Deputy Chief Matt Ambrose, who retired in March, sent a letter to the council that was distributed at the meeting and—according to union speakers—criticized how the assistant chief is performing on the fireground and in day-to-day station leadership. Carcone said the chief fire marshal position has been vacant for about four months and that simultaneous leave by the chief and assistant chief once left frontline command to deputy chiefs.

Union speakers pressed the council on handling of workers’ injury claims under New York’s 207-a process. Carcone and Dunn said members believe legitimate on-the-job injuries and resulting medical or light-duty placements have been delayed or denied and that the city’s processes have forced members into arbitration or court. Dunn described multiple cases where union attorneys had to pursue remedies for members.

The committee also heard competing proposals for reorganizing the fire table of organization. Council materials and testimony referenced a March 25 ordinance introduced by a council member to remove the assistant chief slot, keep the fire marshal and add another fire marshal position. Local 32 asked the council to amend that proposal instead: eliminate the current assistant chief job as written in the 2021 agreement, reinstate an "administrative chief" (a management role focused on daily operations) and convert a firefighter position into an additional fire marshal to staff inspections and code enforcement.

Speakers cited dollar figures in arguing the change could be budget-neutral or saving: union witnesses said the assistant chief position pays about $148,000; they proposed an administrative chief at about $109,000 and a firefighter-to-fire-marshal reclassification that they said could be financed in part from that difference. Committee members questioned exact savings and requested documentation.

Committee members asked for legal and factual follow-up. Corporation Counsel Charles Brown advised the council that it controls the department complement (positions on the table of organization) but that state labor law and civil-service rules constrain certain actions; he urged caution and recommended the council seek specific legal advice about the 2021 agreement. The committee did not vote on the ordinance at the meeting.

Other subjects raised by witnesses included an internal dispute over the Utica Paid Firemen’s Relief Association that led to a civil-court petition and depositions; union speakers said former acting relief association president Jim Noon had retained private counsel and that litigation had delayed a handover of association administration to members. Dunn and Carcone said courts later ordered elections and other remedial measures; council members asked for records.

What the council did and did not do: the council committee accepted testimony, discussed factual and legal questions and requested follow-up. No formal amendment or adoption took place at the meeting.

The council committee asked the city administration for more documents and numbers, including: the 05/11/2021 contract text for the fire chief and assistant fire chief; counts and outcomes for 207-a claims and appeals; the status and vacancy history of the chief fire marshal position; and any corporate-counsel records showing who negotiated or approved the 2021 agreement. Several council members said they want a fuller legal memorandum clarifying whether the 2021 contract language limits the council’s authority to change the table of organization.

The union asked the council to amend the introduced ordinance to recreate an administrative chief position for daily operations and to convert one firefighter position to a fire marshal in order to maintain inspection capacity. The council left the item in committee for follow-up rather than taking final action.