County, firefighters finally finish contract negotiations

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Posted February 25, 2022 | By Matthew Cretul
matthew@ocalagazette.com

After months of wrangling, Marion County has reached a tentative agreement with its fire service personnel that provides a series of pay raises, advancement potential, and other benefits designed to attract and retain the best emergency care providers for county residents.

“It’s nice to be done,” Amanda Tart, the executive director of Administrative Services and Human Resources for Marion County who was the county’s representative in the negotiations, said after the negotiations on Friday, Feb. 18. “Our main focus was to be able to have a contract that would be attractive to recruit and retain employees,” she said.

Daniel Garcia, the president of the Professional Firefighters of Marion County (PFFMC) for the last four years, feels the new contract should do just that.

“I think we covered most of the bases that we were looking to cover in these contract negotiations. I think that this is a big first step for Marion County Fire Rescue (MCFR) moving forward,” he said. “The goal of every contract is to improve wages, benefits, terms, and conditions so that we can attract the best and brightest. So, we retain our senior experienced employees to the benefit of the taxpayers and citizens of Marion County.”

One of the points of extensive discussion between the two sides during their meetings was a wage package that was both fiscally responsible on the county’s end but also allowed MCFR to offer competitive salaries to new hires.

The two sides traded pay plans until ultimately agreeing on the county’s final proposal, which includes raises in a stair-step structure. Garcia broke down how the proposal was designed.

“In their proposal, they are suggesting that they increase the starting rate of pay for EMTs (Emergency Medical Technician) by $3 an hour,” he said.

Tart explained, “Paramedics will get a 3% increase upon ratification, and then there will get a second 3% increase on Oct. 1, 2022. They will get a third 3% increase on Oct. 1, 2023.”

In addition to the raises, Tart said MCFR employees have additional pay incentives.

“Throughout their contract, they have the ability to move up in their competency matrix, which makes them eligible for an additional 6% on top of those 3% raises every two years,” she said.

According to the contract, upon ratification, a single-certified firefighter would start in year one making $13 an hour; a single-certified EMT would start at $13.75, and a single-certified paramedic starts at $17.68. The salaries increase for dual-certified EMTs and paramedics and do not include overtime.

MCFR Deputy Chief for Operations Robert Graff, who also took part in the negotiations, feels the pay structure will allow the department to be competitive in attracting and retaining personnel for the long term.

“I believe it’s a wage package that will continue to keep the employees engaged here in our workforce, and then provide them a future so they can know what they’re going to make and how they can plan their lives,” he said.

Another area of debate between the two sides was the county’s ability to fill open positions by hiring from outside MCFR.

The county proposed allowing the fire chief (currently Chief James Banta) the ability to externally advertise for positions if they remained unfilled after 60 days due to a lack of qualified internal candidates.

PFFMC was adamant the language was too broad and pushed back, insisting that hiring positions from outside MCFR could hurt morale. The county contended the language needed to stay in order to allow for flexibility and provided a safety net to get necessary positions filled.

Ultimately the county removed the language, and Tart said the overall contract provides enough incentives that should allow for internal hiring to flourish.

“Now that we’ve agreed to this contract, we’ve put several things in place that should make it very attractive to promote from within,” she said. “The hope is that we’ll get the applicants that we need to fill the positions that we need to fill. And if we don’t, then moving forward, we’ll have to make some changes. Nobody wants to hire from the outside.”

Garcia agreed and said that the onus now shifts to MCFR to allow the cream of the crop to rise to the top.

“If we can’t find internal candidates to promote to the positions of entry-level management, then all of us have failed the employees in the organization because we should have enough in-house talent to seek the best and the brightest for the promoted positions,” he said.

Now that the negotiations are out of the way, Tart said both sides can turn their attention to filling the 42 open MCFR positions.

“It’s always good to show stability in the department,” she said. “I think having a contract that both sides have agreed to really gives people looking to start their career a roadmap to look at and be able to say, ‘Hey, this is how I can progress in my career and be successful working for Marion County.’”

The contract must now go to the PFFMC general body, where they will have a three-day voting window. If the members approve the contract, it will then go to the Marion County Board of County Commissioners for approval.

Graff said he doesn’t see any holdups from this point on.

“I think it’s a great step for the fire department, I think it’s a great step for our employees, it’s a great step for the citizens that we can now have a signed, sealed, delivered contract, move it forward for ratification on their side, and then we’ll take it to the board for approval. I see that process going fairly smoothly,” he said.

“I think, at the end of the day, both organizations want to see the best for their members,’’ he said. “We want to see the best for the citizens. And I think we’ve done that.”

Tart said she hopes to get a PFFMC-approved contract in front of the commissioners for their April 1 meeting. Once approved by the board, the contract would be effective immediately and would be valid until Sept. 30, 2024.