The Oak Lawn Leaf has an article stating that the Oak Lawn fire chief supports hiring more firefighters:

Oak Lawn’s Fire Chief George Sheets appeared at a recent village budget hearing and told the mayor, manager and trustees that he supports the hiring of 16 additional firefighters in order to eliminate the $2.5 million dollars in overtime spent by the village every year as it has fought court orders regarding its contract with the firefighters union.

Sheets said that the hiring of the 16 firefighters/paramedics would resolve the issue of overtime for at least the next two years.  It is the first
time that any member of the administration has discussed the possibility of compromising on the stand developed over seven years ago by former Trustee Tom Phelan and implemented by Village Manager Larry Deetjen.

Sheets’ statement mimics the position outlined by [some trustees] who have noted that the administration continues to wage legal battles that it has already lost on the issue of minimum manning.

Deetjen, [the mayor and other trustees] have continued to attack the minimum manning provision in the contract instituted under the late Mayor Ernie Kolb. Those legal battles have proven to be futile with the administration’s efforts to reduce the number of firefighters being denied each time.

Under Village Manager Larry Deetjen’s recommendation and the village board’s support, the village has allowed the firefighter employees to be reduced from 100 to 72 over the years.  The firefighters have supported keeping the “minimum manning contract language” the same while the village agreed with the daily shift of 21 employees, it sought to add language stating that would have allowed the village to staff only three firefighters to an engine if staffing fell below 21 daily employees, “for any reason”.

The language was rejected by the union, which has battled over the issue of minimum manning and had to file an unfair labor practice. The Illinois Labor Relations Board ruled against the village and that decision was upheld by the Illinois Appellate Court in 2011.

The firemen have complained previously that the village is wasting millions of dollars in overtime pay as a result of its failure to hire new firefighters.  Mayor Sandra Bury has countered arguing that the minimum manning provision agreed to through the collective bargaining process was devastating to the village.

Trustee Robert Streit (Dist. 3) has previously denounced Mayor Sandra Bury’s attacks on the firefighters noting that the village was told its
position was wrong in 2011 and chose to continue to fight the issue, making it virtually impossible to negotiate any issues with the firefighters
union.  While Streit has claimed that he can’t support a position that the courts have consistently ruled against, other Trustees, such as Terry
Vorderer and Mike Carberry have made comments supporting the fight over minimum manning despite the court rulings.

At the budget meeting, no elected officials indicated whether they would support Chief Sheets’ recommendation.

thanks Dan