Sharonville council approves parking limit, public-works pre-construction contract and firefighters’ contract

Sharonville City Council on April 28 approved three ordinances that city officials said will manage short-term parking near City Hall, advance a Public Works building retrofit, and implement a new three-year contract for the city’s firefighters.

The council voted 7–0 to approve third reading of ordinance 2026-15E, which establishes two-hour parking on portions of Reading Road from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, to increase turnover near City Hall. The measure was presented by Safety Service Director Mr. Lucas, who said the regulation aims to free spaces used by adjacent apartment residents during daytime hours.

Council then suspended rules to allow first-and-only emergency readings and approved two additional measures. Emergency ordinance 2026-24E authorizes the Safety Services Director to contract for pre-construction services with the selected construction manager-at-risk for renovations to the Public Works building, a step city leaders said is necessary to move the retrofit from planning into the construction management phase. The ordinance passed on a roll-call vote recorded as seven yes votes.

Emergency ordinance 2026-25E approves a collective bargaining agreement with the International Association of Firefighters Local 4498 covering Jan. 1, 2026, through Dec. 31, 2028. Chief Sunderman summarized key terms on the council floor: “We are sticking with a 54-hour work week,” and the contract provides a 3% wage increase in 2026 and 4% increases in both 2027 and 2028. He also described operational and administrative changes, including ending the prior “even pay” practice, increasing the comp-time bank to 96 hours, and permitting a one-time annual comp-time sell-back subject to administrative infrastructure expected in January 2027.

Chief Sunderman also noted a 1.5% continuous stipend for acting officers, modest increases in vacation accrual at defined milestones, added maternity-leave language to allow transitional EMS duty for up to 60 days with physician approval, and inserted previously negotiated mediation language into the contract.

All three ordinances were approved by roll call with Councilmembers Mr. Cook, Ms. Sharpshire, Ms. Cittadino, Mr. Lovett, Mr. Cox, Ms. Knight and Mr. Schmidt recorded as voting yes. Emergency declarations mean the two labor and Public Works ordinances take effect immediately under the city charter.

The council did not amend the measures during the meeting. City staff said the pre-construction authorization permits the Safety Services Director to execute the next-step contracts with the selected construction manager; staff will return with finalized contract documents as procurement progresses.