Mansfield City Council doles out $6,000 bonuses for member of firefighters' union
Lt. Matt Shafley, union president for International Association of Fire Fighters Local 266, individually shook the hands of Mansfield City Council members following Tuesday night's meeting.
Council voted 8-0 to approve American Rescue Plan Act funding that included a $6,000 bonus for each of the firefighter bargaining unit members. The total was $570,000.
The bonuses were similar to those given to city police bargaining unit members, who received a $6,500 stipend through Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery funds to provide one-time worker retention incentives.
"It's not part of our contract," Shafley said of their recent three-year deal. "It had to come before council to get voted on."
The firefighters received a "letter of acknowledgment" from the city promising the bonus.
More than a dozen firefighters attended Tuesday's meeting.
"We would like to say 'thank you' to council for supporting us. We're really appreciative of that," Shafley said. "We want the residents to know we're going to continue to come to work and do a good job for them."
Non-bargaining, full-time employees to receive $4,000
In addition to the bonuses for firefighters, council allocated $530,000 in ARPA funding for non-bargaining, full-time employees in other departments. Each of those employees will receive $4,000.
Councilman Alomar Davenport wanted to offer an explanation to part-time employees.
"They must be full-time employees according to ARPA federal guidelines," he said of who could receive the bonus. "I don't want them to feel slighted in any way."
Council also doled out $30,000 in ARPA money for Catholic Charities, along with $20,000 proposed by Davenport that would specifically go for the organization's food pantry.
"That's more money than they could get through CDBG (Community Development Block Grant)," Davenport said, adding he cleared the idea with the law director's office.
With that money coming from ARPA, Davenport said council could divvy up the extra CDBG funding for other agencies, giving them close to what they requested, in decisions that will be announced next month.
Council also approved $250,000 in ARPA money for a walking path under Trimble Road. The connector trail will be a tunnel.
There was some discussion about giving $2,500 in ARPA money for eight leather chairs for the human resources department before that was approved.
"In the grand scheme of things, it's not much," Councilwoman Cheryl Meier said of the request, "but we had a hallway full of chairs a year ago. We're whittling down these ARPA funds."
Mayor Tim Theaker explained most of those chairs were cloth.
"Cloth can transport any kind of disease more than vinyl or leather," he said, adding most of the chairs would be vinyl.
Sharon May, director of human resources, explained the chairs are needed for the department's conference room.
Council still has $1.7 million of remaining ARPA funding that must be allocated by the end of 2024.
Council members advised to regulate food trucks
In the economic development committee meeting preceding the regular session, Deputy Law Director Christopher Brown asked council to consider regulating food trucks, which have become popular in the city.
"There is literally nothing on the books," he said.
Brown asked members to consider licensing enforcement and penalties.
"We have no way to hold people accountable," he said.
The deputy law director advised council to decide if food trucks should use public parking spots or private parking, along with time limits. Brown said the city of Columbus is having issues with food trucks staying open until 3 or 4 a.m.
Other issues include fire prevention and deciding if food trucks should get exemptions for special events. Brown said Richland Public Health would be in charge of food safety.
"We want to make sure that the public is safe, and we don't have businesses stepping on other businesses' toes," Councilwoman Stephanie Zader said.
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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Mansfield City Council approves $6,000 bonuses for union firefighters
