For the first time in three years, Springfield firefighters will have a working contract with the city, setting their wages and requiring new hires to live within city limits for the 15 years of their career.
Springfield city council members voted unanimously to approve the five-year contract, which covers March 2016 through February 2021. A majority of the union that represents the city's firefighters, the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 37, voted to ratify the contract in January.
Fire Chief Allen Reyne called the contract "a good compromise," saying neither side got everything it wanted. Settling the contract had been on his top goal upon being appointed chief in March of last year, he said.
A sticking point was requiring residency of new hires, a policy Mayor Jim Langfelder campaigned for and has subsequently added to almost every contract with unions that represent city employees.
Local 37 was initially opposed to having any kind of residency requirement in its contract. Having it for 15 years was the compromise, Reyne said.
"Hopefully, they live here for 15 years and they like it so much they will want to stay forever," Reyne said of new firefighters.
Aldermen also lauded the union's willingness to take the first year's 2 percent raise as a bonus that won't be factored toward firefighters' base salaries. Doing so lowers the city's pension burden.
"That reflects incredible leadership to accept that kind of agreement," Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin said. "It's novel throughout the state of Illinois - I can't think of any other fire districts in recent history that have agreed to this kind of approach to gain some cost containment."
As of last year, the firefighters' pension fund is 44 percent funded, posing a large liability to the city in the future. Langfelder has introduced an ordinance that would make it so that if the city's rainy day fund and the utility's revenues hit a certain threshold, the city would contribute more toward police and fire pensions. McMenamin also introduced an ordinance to lower the pension fund's estimated rate of return, which will trigger the city to make higher payments toward pensions.
"We need everyone to contribute to the solution so it can't be just taxpayers, it can't be just our employees," McMenamin said. "We need everyone to contribute to (solving) the problem that's growing over the course of the last 24 years."
After the first year, firefighters will get raises of 1.5, 1.25, 1.5 and 1.75 percent, all of which will increase their wages.
Now that the contract is settled, firefighters will receive retroactive pay from the years already borne out in the contract. Working out the details could take several weeks, according to budget director Bill McCarty.
In other action, the city council unanimously approved an agreement with a South-Carolina-based bike-share company, Gotcha, to bring 75 bikes or 10 "hubs" to Springfield in exchange for use of the city's right of way.
The agreement will not cost the city any money, but will allow for the company to operate within city limits. Gotcha is also working toward agreements with University of Illinois Springfield and the Springfield Park District so that they can have hubs on their properties, making the program citywide.
The bikes would have an "electric assist," which would act like an extra gear to make it easier to travel longer distances, according to Griffin Blackwelder, Gotcha vice president.
Users could reserve a bike through a keypad on the bike, an app or website with a credit card, which would will then spit out a four-digit PIN that unlocks the bike. Locks are built into the Gotcha bikes, which are distinct from regular model bikes, according to Public Works programs coordinator Adena Rivas. Bikes would be "geofenced," or limited to a certain radius outside of where they have to be returned to a rack.
Aldermen expressed concern that the city wasn't bicycle friendly enough. Ward 6 Ald. Kristin DiCenso noted more people needed to stop parking in designated bike lanes.
Blackwelder noted that when Gotcha first started in the city where it's headquartered - Charleston, South Carolina - 10 years ago, the city told the company it was "crazy" to try to implement bike-share program downtown. However, the company was able to prove the city wrong and it now works with the city on improving city's infrastructure for bikes.
"It was historically voted for the worst biking city in the entire country for many, many years," Blackwelder said. "We had a lot of people that were apprehensive about us launching a bike program but the program's been insanely successful."
The next steps for the city and Gotcha would be to figure out where hubs will be, the program's name and what kind of advertising and signage would be allowed on bike docks.
What users would pay and how still needs to be worked out: the program could take a membership model or pay-your-way model or both, according to Rivas.
Rivas said Gotcha would have bikes available during the city's Earth Fair on April 27 for attendees to try out.
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