An offer by the leader of a city labor union to discuss cost-saving measures with the Jamestown City Council has been met with open arms.
In an article published in The Sunday Post-Journal, Ryan Roush, president of the Jamestown Professional Firefighters Association Local 1772, opened the door for discussions with the City Council.
''The union has proposed cost savings and will still do so,'' he said. ''If the City Council wants to sit down with us and hear our ideas, we're more than happy to put them out there. We do have ideas that can save the city money, if that's what this is all about.''
Roush was making reference to a decision by fire department and city administrators to close the department's outlying stations and operate solely out of the City Hall fire station if there are not enough lieutenants or firefighters willing to act as lieutenants to lead three companies of firefighters.
He said the union's cost-saving ideas include having the department take over EMS transports, an idea Roush said would generate additional revenue for the city, and cost-saving ''structural changes'' that he said he could not detail publicly.
It was City Councilman Steve Szwejbka, I-Ward 1, who asked that, in light of Roush's comments, members of the police and fire unions be invited to meetings of the council's Public Safety Committee for discussion.
''I saw in the paper that they'd be willing to discuss cost-saving measures and I think we should embrace that,'' Szwejbka said. ''I know we're all concerned with cutting costs.''
Mayor Sam Teresi said he felt doing so would be ''highly appropriate'' and said the city's corporation counsel, Marilyn Fiore-Nieves, would sit in on those meetings to ensure no boundaries were crossed in regards to ''appropriateness and collective bargaining matters.''
''If there are ideas out there, I know we'd love to hear them,'' Teresi said. ''The city administration and City Council will certainly take those ideas under advisement as we always have.''
City Councilman Mike Taylor, D-Ward 3 and chairman of the council's Public Safety Committee, said he welcomed the discussion.
''This is both sides reaching out,'' Taylor said. ''This is not bureaucracy versus union anymore. It's both sides realizing these are tough economic times. Both sides have to do what's right for them, but in the end, we all have to make sure we're looking out for the taxpayers.
''I mean, the bottom line is this - if we don't work together, all sides will suffer. In some ways, that's already happening. This is an opportunity to put an end to all the foolishness and problems and just do what's best.''