One issue important to the Texarkana, Texas, Fire Department is off the agenda for Monday's City Council meeting, and another will make its first appearance.
City Manager John Whitson removed a disputed change in TTFD policy from the agenda because Ward 4 Council Member Brian Matthews has announced his resignation effective Monday, leaving a vacancy until the council appoints a replacement to complete Matthews' term. Whitson prefers that a full council consider the measure, and he may not bring it up again until after the November election, he said.
The council was scheduled to vote Monday on changes to TTFD's "swap time" policy, which regulates how firefighters are allowed to trade shifts with one another. But the vacant seat and an expected no vote from Ward 6 Council Member Josh Davis put approval of the resolution in risky territory.
A similar situation caused the measure to fail in November 2016. With two members absent, the council voted 3-1 in favor of the policy changes, but because four votes are needed for approval, they were not implemented. Whitson and Fire Chief Eric Schlotter brought the resolution back before the council this year.
Davis, a firefighter with the Arkansas-side fire department, cast the sole vote against the resolution last year.
"I had some questions that I never felt like I really got a great answer on, as far as what was being decided here on some of the reasons. But personally, I feel like that if this had passed for the fire department, then we would be seeing a huge increase in sick time used.
"There are thousands of other fire departments across the country that you can look into that have used this policy for hundreds of years, and it's never cost the city anything," Davis said at the time.
Davis would have again voted no on Monday, and for the same reasons, he said Saturday.
The new policy would set a limit of five on how many 24-hour shifts a firefighter may owe before having to work a shift for someone else. It would prohibit a firefighter from paying another to work a shift for them. And it would forbid firefighters from working another job while someone else is substituting for them in the department.
The changes are necessary to prevent abuses and eliminate legal liabilities, according to Whitson. But local firefighters' union president Scott Robertson says a new policy is unnecessary and the city is going too far in regulating what should be private transactions between firefighters.
At Monday's meeting, the council will hear a first briefing on a resolution to formally adopt collective bargaining with TTFD.
Last year, Texarkana residents voted to allow the department to choose a collective-bargaining representative, and firefighters this spring voted for the union.
By state law, the city must formally acknowledge that it is in collective bargaining with the union by Oct. 30.
The meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday at City Hall, 220 Texas Blvd.
On Twitter: @RealKarlRichter
