May 07 -- WATERTOWN, NY -- The cost of the city’s legal bills for the ongoing firefighters’ contract dispute increased $110,000 during a recent three-month period and now exceeds $634,000.
City Comptroller James E. Mills on Friday confirmed that the law firm has billed $634,740.56 through January for costs associated with the nearly four-year labor dispute with the Watertown Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 191.
Union President Daniel Daugherty put the costs of the legal expenses at $110,000 for a three-month period between Nov. 1, 2017, and the end of January. That’s the latest set of bills that Terry O’Neil, the lawyer representing the city, has submitted; the Long Island labor and employment attorney has not charged the city for any legal work after Jan. 1.
Yet Mr. Daugherty warned the legal bills will keep on coming.
“That hill is getting higher,” he said. “They’re going to keep climbing.”
He questioned the billed amount since Mr. O’Neil had told city officials that the attorney was not going to charge the city for some of his legal work.
“That doesn’t sound like pro bono work to me,” Mr. Daugherty said.
During the same three-month period, the union’s attorney — Nathaniel Lambright of the Syracuse law firm of Blitman & King — billed the firefighters about $32,000, Mr. Daugherty said. Overall, the union has spent between $200,000 and $250,000 in legal expenses.
Before the most recent bills were submitted, Mr. O’Neil’s law firm of Bond, Schoeneck & King had charged the city $523,939. He is paid $350 an hour for his services.
After hearing the latest figures, Councilman Mark C. Walczyk said they were “in the ballpark” he anticipated. He also believes the worst of the legal expenses might have occurred, since it seems both sides may be softening their approach to contract negotiations.
“I think we’re finally going put this to bed,” the councilman said.
He also defended Mr. O’Neil’s stance on not charging the city for certain aspects of the legal dispute, saying it had to do with an issue that the City Council felt was not important to pursue, so the attorney agreed to do it pro bono.
The 68-member union has been without a contract since July 2014. The main sticking point remains a “minimum manning” stipulation that 15 firefighters must be on duty at all times. In July 2016, the contract talks became increasingly bitter after eight captains were basically demoted to firefighters.
But the legal bills also do not include two recent all-day arbitration hearings held with Mr. O’Neil arguing the cases for the city.
Last Thursday, an arbitration hearing was held involving the eight captains.
The city actually abolished the eight captain positions and then rehired the employees as firefighters, Mr. O’Neil said. The union now acknowledges the city was able to eliminate the positions, he said.
But the union is now arguing that every apparatus needs an officer on board, according to a decades-long stipulation in the contract, Mr. Daugherty said. In turn, the city could just put fewer vehicles on the road, Mr. O’Neil said.
During the 61/2-hour hearing, the city presented no witnesses. Mr. Daugherty answered Mr. O’Neil’s questions for about four hours. The hearing before arbitrator Monte Kline will continue for a second day on July 26.
Mr. O’Neil expects the arbitrator’s decision about the captains should occur this fall.
In April, another arbitration hearing about out-of-title pay for captains was held. A decision on that hearing is still pending.
The union is appealing a decision in January by Judge James P. McClusky to block an arbitration case involving the “minimum manning” clause of the union contract. Mr. Daugherty believes it will be months before that issue is settled.
Once all the arbitration cases and a series of grievances and improper-labor disputes are resolved, the two sides still must settle on the overall contract.
And then they go right back to the bargaining table to negotiate another new contract.
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