The City Council voted unanimously during Monday’s City Council voting session to suspend the hiring freeze and hire eight additional firefighters under the $1.8 million Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant, contingent upon multiple terms and conditions. Pictured are members of the City Council and the city administration during Monday’s voting session. P-J photo by Timothy Frudd

The City Council voted unanimously Monday to suspend the hiring freeze and hire eight additional firefighters with funding from the $1.8 million Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant.

The unanimous vote by the City Council came after City Council members withdrew the original resolution and introduced a modified version of the resolution with additional terms and conditions. City Councilwoman Marie Carrubba, D-Ward IV, introduced the resolution and listed the terms and conditions that the city administration and the city’s firefighter union, Local 137, will be required to meet.

The resolution will be contingent upon the successful negotiation and tentative agreement with the Jamestown Professional Firefighters Association, Local 137, that after the “full utilization or expiration” of the SAFER grant funding, the additional eight firefighters hired under the SAFER grant funding will not constitute a new Jamestown Fire Department minimum staffing level under the impact arbitration order from 2002. The resolution approved by the council requires that the tentative agreement be reviewed and approved by outside legal counsel.

The resolution states that Local 137 waives its right to pursue any legal action against the city if the city is not able to secure additional outside funding to retain the eight firefighters after the three-year grant period.

The third stipulation of the resolution requires the city to “make good faith and reasonable efforts” to obtain outside funding that will be needed to retain the additional eight firefighters after the end of the grant program.

Finally, the resolution approved by the City Council requires both the formal ratification of the tentative agreement by the voting members of Local 137, as well as formal ratification of the agreement by the City Council and the execution of the final agreement by Mayor Eddie Sundquist, which will be subject to the approval of outside legal counsel.

The resolution sponsored by Carrubba also provides direction for the city clerk, finance director or city comptroller to utilize funding from the contingency line in the 2023 General Fund Budget to cover the cost of the legal counsel services required by the resolution.

Following the City Council’s unanimous approval of the resolution, Mayor Eddie Sundquist expressed his gratitude for the council’s decision. He acknowledged that the City Council had a “difficult” process of considering every aspect of the SAFER grant and responding to pressures from constituents.

“This process, I know at times, can be messy, but the end result is what matters,” he said. “I do want to thank you all for going through that. I want to thank the union; I want to thank our chiefs. This is certainly a good and positive result, all of us working together getting to ‘yes.’ It’s very easy to say no; It’s much harder as one large body to work towards ‘yes,’ so I want to thank you all for that.”

Sundquist said the City Council’s decision to lift the hiring freeze and allow the Jamestown Fire Department to hire eight additional firefighters under the funding provided by the SAFER grant will not only make Jamestown “safer,” but will also ensure that the city does not have to raise taxes to hire additional firefighters.

“I want to again thank you all on behalf of all the residents, on behalf of the administration, and we look forward to continue working with you as we continue to improve the entire Jamestown community,” he said.