City Council Rejects Factfinder's Report In Contract Negotiations with Firefighters

Mentor City Council voted 5-2 to reject a factfinder's report in its ongoing contract negotiations with Mentor Fire Department's firefighters' union.

Councilmen Ray Kirchner and Scott Marn voted to accept the report, while Council Members , , , and voted to reject it.

Council President Shiner said a 5-2 margin was needed to reject the report. He added that while it was a difficult decision for him.

"We need to get some language cleaned up in it," he said.

The proposed contract could only be accepted or rejected in its totality, City Manager Kenneth Filipiak said.

Filipiak said he could not discuss the portions of the report that Council disagreed with because negotiations with International Association of Firefighters Local 1845 are still ongoing and he didn't want to jeopardize the process.

"We're making good progress," Filipiak said. "We've got a long history of working these sorts of things out and I don't think this time will be any different."

If the city and firefighters' union cannot strike a compromise, the next step is arbitration.

"I'm confident we'll be able to work out most of these issues before arbitration," Filipiak said.

About a dozen members of the firefighters' union attended the City Council meeting Tuesday evening at . They did not speak during the part of the meeting where people can address Council; nor did they comment after the meeting.

The firefighters wore shirts telling people to vote "no" on .

International Association of Firefighters Local 1845's 3-year contract expired in March this year.