Sep. 19—The last set of mass hiring done by the Lockport Fire Department will come in 2023, placing the department "back to par" with its status in 2014 before the City of Lockport fired 12 firefighters, a move later determined to be illegal by an arbitrator.
Surrounded by financial turmoil, the 2014 decision to put a dozen firefighters on the street was made during former Mayor Anne McCaffrey's term who dropped the fire department's ambulance service and cut the department's minimum staffing levels from nine to six firefighters per shift.
In September of 2019, Michael Lewandowski, an arbitrator said that the city violated the union's collective bargaining agreement, because a reduction of the LFD's minimum manning put the residents of Lockport at risk.
"The decision of the former administration to unilaterally reduce fire department manpower was ill-conceived and inevitably left our firefighters and residents at risk," Mayor Michelle Roman said after the arbitrator's decision. "The prior administration's actions, and failure to create a contingency plan, has placed the city in further economic turmoil."
Roman said she planned to discuss with the union how to hire back those 12 positions.
The end result, according to Fire Chief Luca Quagliano, was that the addition of the 12 jobs was done gradually. The taxpayers were not "burdened," he said, because the negotiations that led to the 12 new hires also stipulated spreading out the hiring to four per-year for three-years.
"The mayor worked with us to make an agreement without putting a huge tax burden on the public," Quagliano said to the US&J, Monday.
Financial Director Tim Russo said that the increase to the budget was an additional $350,000 each-year, though SAFER grants for the fire department were awarded two years before the plan began in the amount of $96,468. He noted there were "slight" increases to the property taxes of Lockport residents in the last two years.
The implementation of the three-year agreement led to hiring five firefighters in 2021 and six firefighters in 2022. In January, five more firefighters will be hired to complete the three-year plan and replace retirees.
"I wouldn't consider them extra," Quagliano said. "We're back to par to where we were in 2014, not extra."
Quagliano said that almost all of the new hires have worked out well, many who are paramedics, including the six hired in 2022 who just graduated from the training. He also said that the next and last batch of hires could hold some paramedic trained candidates, as well, which may help if the city decides to restart it's ambulance services. Currently, Freed Maxick, an accounting firm out of Buffalo, has signed a contract to perform an audit
"Luckily it's worked our very well," Quagliano said of his department's restoration. "We have a good list to work from and all but one of the candidates chosen have worked out great, except one."
Still, the sting of the past lay-offs has not been forgotten. Quagliano said this new group, while talented, do not have the experience that comes from working in the department for years, which instead of staying in the city, went to any department that was hiring for the last eight years.
"In 2014 they laid off some really experienced firefighters," he said. "Those 12 found other jobs in Niagara Falls, North Tonawanda and Batavia."
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