Excerpts from the Peoria-Journa star.com:
The East Peoria City Council on Tuesday narrowly approved a 5-year firefighter contract by a 3-2 vote. The deciding vote was cast by Commissioner Dan Decker, who is also an Assistant Fire Chief of the East Peoria Fire Department.
Decker said he believed he was legally able to vote on the contract and did so to preclude the potential cost of arbitration. “It would have been much easier to abstain,” Decker said after the vote. “But if there had been a deadlock (vote) it would have gone to arbitration and that would have been extremely costly to the city. (Besides) nothing in the contract affects me.”
Commissioner Mike Sutherland, who voted against the contract, challenged Decker’s vote. “I have a problem with a fireman (voting on the contract),” Sutherland said after the vote. “I don’t know if I can, but I’m going to legally challenge the vote and take it as far as I can go. I don’t know (if Decker’s vote) was morally correct or legally correct.”
State law exempts firefighters from laws banning most public employees from holding public office.
The contract provides salary increases of 1.5 percent the first year; 1.75 percent in years two and three; 2 percent in the fourth year; and, 2.25 percent in the final year in 2024. It is retroactive to May 1, 2019, the date the previous contract expired. That makes the average annual salary increase over the course of the contract 1.85 percent, or slightly higher than the 1.75 percent increase given to other public employees in the city.
Commissioner Seth Mingus, who oversees the fire department operation and negotiated the contract for the city, defended Decker’s vote. “Commissioner Decker was acting in the best interest of the city, and citizens should be appreciative of that,” Mingus said.
Now in his fourth term, Decker has in years past frequently abstained from voting on firefighter issues, particularly contract deals. Until this year, Decker had been a member of the firefighter’s union, but left when he was promoted to management as an assistant chief.
Sutherland said he opposed the contract because it did not include a residency requirement for firefighters. The mayor opposed it because of a sick time buy-back program that he believed could end up costing the city money.
