The City of Bloomington Common Council unanimously approved the collective bargaining agreement to increase salaries for firefighters at its meeting Wednesday evening.
Under the new contract all firefighters will see a 2-percent salary increase each year for the next four years. Starting pay for firefighters will be $50,964 this year. The updated agreement also eliminates contractual overtime.
The department will follow a quartermaster system. The department will own, inspect and maintain gear for firefighters, who used to be responsible for ownership, inspection and maintenance of the gear.
“I can’t express how pleased I am to see the quartermaster system,” council member Isabel Piedmont-Smithsaid. “I can’t believe we didn’t do things this way before.”
The council also approved the absorption of the Bloomington dispatch center into Monroe County’s dispatch center.
Various board and commission appointments were also made:
- Julie Warren, Commission on the Status of Children and Youth
- Teddie Mower and Coleman Burnett, Bloomington Commission on Sustainability
- Sally Gaskill
and Lynn Schwartzberg, Bloomington Arts Commission - Mike Allen, Bloomington Digital Underground
- Seth Debro, Commission on the Status of Black Males
- Ronald Bronson and Alex Cartwright, Public Transportation Corporation
- Amanda Stevens, Commission on the Status of Women
- Adrian Evans Fernandez, Parking Commission
