Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:
The Mundelein Fire Department will gain two shift lieutenants under a deal that settles complaints over a 2018 command staff restructuring. The deal, approved by the village board Monday and effective immediately, reverses the changes made in that controversial shuffling. The department will now have six lieutenants, up from four, and the number of full-time firefighters will drop from 20 to 18 as two firefighters will be promoted to lieutenant.
The village board enacted the 2018 organizational changes after officials said the fire department was top heavy. The changes left two officers to manage six firefighters per shift, as well as administrative officers. The reorganization was expected to save the village about $149,000 annually in salary and overtime cost reductions.
The International Association of Firefighters Local 4786 filed formal complaints with the Illinois Labor Relations Board in 2018 and 2019 over the command staff changes saying they violated a 2017 labor agreement between the union and the village. The changes approved Monday settle those complaints.
The board separately approved a four-year labor contract with the firefighters’ union that’ll last through April 2023. All firefighter-paramedics and lieutenants will receive .67% raises that are retroactively effective May 1. Additionally, they’ll receive 2.25% cost-of-living increases retroactive to May 1, 2.25% raises in May 2021 and 2.5% raises in May 2022. The new starting salary for a Mundelein firefighter will be $71,539 annually. The new average salary will be about $86,000 annually.
As part of the agreement, the fire department will be able to hire up to six additional firefighter-paramedics through an independent company, Metro Paramedic Services. The department employs six firefighters from that company now.
Hiring additional firefighters reduces departmental overtime costs. Hirings made over the last two years could save the village more than $500,000 in annual overtime costs, and it also saves the village nearly $3 million in lifetime pension obligations per firefighter.
