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Sioux City council pauses action on firefighter pay and proposal to add EMS training officer after union, staff debate
Summary
Councilors and union leaders debated a memorandum of understanding and a proposal to create an EMS training officer post to address pay parity and recruitment; staff said the change was intended to standardize salary schedules, while the union said the final MOU differed from what it believed it had negotiated. The council moved to pull the item and return with alternatives.
Sioux City councilors spent the bulk of their meeting debating a memorandum of understanding for firefighter certification pay and a proposal to create an EMS training officer position meant to address recruitment and pay parity within the department.
Neil Paulson, president of Local 7 Firefighters Association, told the council the union signed a tentative agreement on the understanding pay would be handled one way, then discovered "it wasn't what we thought we had negotiated" when the full document arrived. He urged the council to review the MOU publicly and to ensure the final wording matched the parties' understanding.
Finance Director Tricia Fitch said staff’s original goal was to "clean up the salary schedules" so the city would not…
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