A collective bargaining agreement for firefighters was approved Thursday by the Somerville City Council at a meeting that included a second public safety issue: events that might draw threats, such as the bomb threat called in at the time of an Oct. 5 drag story hour at the city’s Main Library.
Mayor Katjana Ballantyne requested a supplemental $940,000 appropriation from the tax levy and $233,881 appropriation from the salary budget to fund the agreement with Local 76, which councilors approved. The agreement was announced by Ballantyne’s office Oct. 10. The appropriations represent a 9 percent wage increase over three years, as well as financial incentives for increased training: base pay increases for advanced degrees and tuition reimbursements for employees interested in pursuing a degree.
The money will also pay for two infection control officer positions.
The terms of the agreement allow for a “more dynamic skills-based assessment” for promotion opportunities, which will “allow us to make promotions not just based on seniority, but on the specialized skills needed to lead in today’s rapidly changing environment,” Ballantyne said. The assessment will include the civil service exam, as well as more specialized testing at assessment centers.
Since April, prospective firefighters and Local 76 had protested Ballantyne’s plan to fill a new fire station in Assembly Square with lateral transfers from departments in other communities rather than with Somerville residents who have passed the civil service exam.
The mayor’s office previously cited a time-consuming interview process and a monthslong backlog to enter the academy as a deterrent to hiring the dozen or so Somerville residents, some of whom have been on the civil service eligibility list for a decade or longer.
Councilor Matthew McLaughlin also sponsored an order asking that the director of libraries create safety protocols for “events that may draw protests.”
In the discussion, McLaughlin cited the bomb threat that canceled the drag queen story hour. The order, which passed and was sent for discussion in the Public Health and Public Safety Committee, aims to make the community better prepared for future incidents.
The library had hosted the drag story hours before without incident, McLaughlin noted.
During a celebration of National Friends of Libraries Week at the beginning of the meeting, Katie Kidwell, of the Friends of the Somerville Public Library board of directors, called Somerville’s public libraries “sites of cultural exchange [that] promote inclusivity and create a sense of belonging.”
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