Ogdensburg councilors upset they found out about hazard pay in news and not from city manager

NNY360



OGDENSBURG — Councilors at Monday’s City Council meeting expressed frustration with their city manager after they found out about the city no longer paying hazard pay to its firefighters from a news report and not from the city manager himself.

On Monday morning, Channel 7 News released a report stating the city has stopped giving hazard pay for firefighters and is seeking full repayment of non-warranted hazard pay, totaling $311,000.

According to the report, City Manager Stephen P. Jellie said the city determined a section of the contract with the firefighter union is illegal. During the meeting, Councilor Nichole L. Kennedy questioned why the first time they were hearing about the decision was through a news outlet.

“The way the contract reads we reduced hazard pay by increasing or decreasing the amount of staffing,” Mr. Jellie said. “It’s a personnel matter, I’m happy to discuss it with the council in executive session.”

In response, Councilor Michael B. Powers said the information was already publicly released in the media and asked if the city had received a legal opinion on the matter.

Mr. Jellie said Attorney Paul J. Sweeney with Coughlin & Gerhart LLP, Binghamton, had given him legal guidance on the matter.

Councilor John A. Rishe joined the discussion, questioning how the action was made without a council vote.

“I don’t know that I need council’s approval when I discover that something is illegal and the city is paying out funds it shouldn’t be paying out,” Mr. Jellie said. “If council disagrees with my decision, they certainly can voice that concern, but I don’t think that’s true.”

According to the statement posted by Mr. Jellie to Channel 7 News, “Article 18, Section (c) requires ‘hazard pay’ when the city fails to employ less than 6 personnel on any one of its four fire department work shifts (platoons) despite the fact Section (e) of the same article requires the city to maintain 5 personnel on duty at all times for what IAFF Local 1799 officials insist is a safety clause.”

Mr. Powers said hazard pay would not have been paid out unless the department dropped below a contractually agreed number of firefighters.

“You need to check with council when you make a significant decision like that when it involves a serious litigation against a union,” Mr. Rishe said.

Ms. Kennedy made a motion to request Mr. Sweeney to attend the executive session at the next City Council meeting.

“He’s saying he has a legal opinion, we haven’t seen it,” Ms. Kennedy said. “Whoever did the legal opinion, I would like to hear it from them.”

The City Council voted unanimously in favor of the motion.