The Centralia City Council has approved a new four year contract agreement with the Fraternal Order of Police union representing the telecommunicators.
City Manager Scott Randall says like the other three union contracts approved so far, it contains a four percent wage increase each year. However, he reports there will also be some cost savings for the city including a 50-50 split of health insurance increases without the city fully picking up the first five percent each year.
“Eligibility for retiree health has increased from 8 to 15 years of services. We clarified language the life insurance was only being offered to active not retired employees. We changed the way the dental insurance is being compensated. Rather than the city paying 100% we have capped our contributions to $19 per month per employee and all the additional costs are absorbed by the employee.”
This contract did include some per hour increases for telecommunicators who have met specific certifications. The new contract will be retroactive to January first.
The city is still negotiating a contract with the FOP unit that represents the patrolmen. Randall says the contract was headed to arbitration, but the union has asked for another bargaining session first with a federal mediator.
In the public comment section of the meeting, resident Vernell Burris chastised the city council for the size of the increase which he said would be a burden to the taxpayers.
