AUSTINTOWN Trustees feel pessimistic but wait for arbiter in firefighters' contract

The laid-off employees include a trustee's sister.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- Township Trustees Dave Ditzler and Bo Pritchard doubt that a state conciliator will side with them in their dispute with firefighters over a new contract.
"I don't anticipate that they will adopt the [trustees'] view," Pritchard said, noting that he thinks conciliators most often side with employees, no matter what argument is made by employers. Ditzler called conciliation "a corrupt process."
Has hope
Trustee Richard Edwards, however, is more optimistic. Edwards noted that the township has documentation showing that its insurance costs are increasing rapidly and it can't afford raises.
Trustees and firefighters will each be able to present their arguments Thursday during a hearing with the conciliator, who represents the State Employment Relations Board. The conciliator will issue a report during the next two weeks agreeing with one of the arguments.
The new contract will be based on the conciliator's report.
Despite Pritchard's statements, a review of some recent conciliation cases in Mahoning County shows that conciliators sometimes side with government officials. SERB General Counsel J. Russell Keith described conciliators as neutral "independent contractors" hired by the board.
Keith added that most conciliators have a background in labor negotiations.
Edwards said the conciliator in Thursday's hearing will be an attorney from Cleveland with 25 years of legal experience. The Vindicator could not confirm that Tuesday night.
Budget cuts
Trustees will argue that the township can't afford raises for firefighters this year. They have said that without budget cuts, the township will have a $1.2 million deficit at the end of this year.
Firefighters, however, will cite a fact finder's report from January stating that the township hadn't demonstrated that it couldn't afford 3 percent raises for firefighters in each year of a new three-year contract. Atty. Dennis Haines, who represents the firefighter's union, said the township's financial problems are "not significant enough to deprive the firefighters of a fair wage."
Ditzler said he wants firefighters to agree to a pay freeze this year. He also wants firefighters to contribute to health insurance costs.
"The firefighters aren't going to concede to it," Haines said.
Edwards noted that the trustees have documentation for Thursday's hearing to prove insurance costs have increased 24 percent this year. Trustees didn't have that documentation during the hearing with the fact finder, he said.
In an effort to save money, trustees have closed a part-time fire station and laid off a maintenance employee, a police officer, a part-time firefighter and a full-time and two-part time caseworkers from the police juvenile diversion program, which has been eliminated. They also decided not to hire six part-time firefighters who were completing their probationary period.
Trustees also have decided to lay off an accounting assistant for township administration and a part-time parks worker. The accounting assistant is Ditzler's sister.
Ditzler said laying off his sister to save money was "the right and necessary thing to do.
"Right now we're in the situation where we have to do what's best for the community," he said. "You can't look at [those laid off] as individual people, because you feel bad for all of them."
Paying premiums
Trustees also recently approved a resolution requiring department heads and nonunion employees to pay 5 percent of their health insurance premiums and some of the cost of prescription drugs.
Ditzler noted that in an effort to save money, trustees also proposed not scheduling a full-time firefighter to replace full-timers who are sick or on vacation. The proposal, which also would have reduced mandatory overtime for firefighters, would have saved the township $106,000, he said.
The proposal was rejected. Ditzler said he believes firefighters rejected