Nles mayor rescinds proposal to eliminate minimum staffing

NILES

Under fire from safety forces, members of the city’s fiscal commission and angry residents, Mayor Thomas Scarnecchia announced Friday he is withdrawing “after careful consideration” his proposal to eliminate minimum manning in the safety forces from the city’s Financial Recovery Plan.

Minimum-manning clauses in the city’s labor contracts require four police officers and six firefighters per shift. Acting Police Chief Jay Holland and Fire Chief Dave Danielson said they feared for the safety of their departments if those numbers were to be reduced. Danielson warned he would have to close the fire substation that serves Eastwood Mall and the U.S. Route 422 strip.

The mayor had said it would be up to the discretion of the two chiefs to operate with less staffing, but Holland and Danielson said they had no intention of going below current levels.

During Wednesday’s council meeting, police, firefighters and the general public strongly and at times emotionally criticized the proposal coming so soon after the assassinations of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge.

Read more about the matter in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.