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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1972-10-05 Policy Statement by City Council- • • • POLICY STATEMENT BY THE ENGLEWOOD CITY COUNCIL October 5, 1972 This statement deals with two charter amendments which will be on a separate, paper ballot at the general election on November 7 of this year. Amendment No. 4, sponsored by the Englewood Firefighters Association, Local No. 1736, AFL-CIO, will be on the ballot. The Council urges you to vote against this measure, as it conflicts with Amendment No. 5, sponsored by the Council. For the following reasons we sincerely urge all citizens to vote FOR Amendment No. 5. The residents of Englewood have elected their City Council to serve their fellow citizens as policy makers and general supervisors of the efficient operations of city government. In carrying out these duties, the Council accepts the respon- sibility not only for a high level of municipal service at reasonable cost to the taxpayers, but also for creating satisfying and rewarding jobs for the employees of our City government. To this end, the Council has regularly invited the participa- tion of employees --singly and in groups --to meet and confer with Council and its administration. Ideas from such meetings and conferences have been important in maintaining good working relationships among City employees. Now it is evident that one group of employees considers such informal meetings and conferences inadequate and has proposed that they take upon themselves, without public accountability for their actions, the making of public policy. We believe that the ballot proposal (refer•red Amendment No. 4) by the Englewood Firefighters Association, Local No. 1736, AFL-CIO, calling for collective bargaining with binding arbitration, is not in the public interest. Binding arbitra- tion means that where differences cannot be resolved, then final decisions would be made by an outside panel, and both firemen and the Council (acting for the people) would be required to abide by those decisions. This proposal would transfer these rights to persons who would probably be non-residents and would delegate to them the absolute power to establish not only the benefit~ paid to firemen, but also would give them the power to determine ... other costs of fire service. Representatives of the Englewood Firefighters Association advised the City Council at a public meeting on September 18, 1972, that it was their intention to make demands of the City Council relative to the number of fire trucks, number of men on the department, and other similar issues, and to submit these • • • Page 2 issues to binding arbitration if their proposal (No. 4) is passed by the voters. The citizens of Englewood should realize that if they are willing to extend to firemen, through a panel of strangers to Englewood, the power to make those decisions related to the fire service, then the citizens must be willing to extend such powers to the employees of every segment of city government. At that time the City Council would cease to have any important function, and the people would dis- cover that they no longer have any control over their municipal government or its costs. We believe that the City of Englewood has an outstanding record in the administration of one of the larger incor- porated municipalities in Colorado. We believe Englewood provides for its citizens a level of service considerably above the average in Colorado and at a cost comparable to that of other cities in this state. We believe this happy situation results from a special ability to respond to the needs and desires of the people, and from enlightened attitudes toward industrial and commercial growth in the community. We firmly believe that the abdication of such policy making to hired arbitrators may well result in higher costs and taxes for municipal services to our citizens, and would discourage continued growth of commerce and industry. The Council believes that it is possible for the citizens to maintain control of their government while permitting an increased level of participation by employees in the decision-making process. For this purpose, the Council has referred to the people Charter Amendment No. 5 which would extend to all employees, not Just firemen, the right to join or not to join organizations. It obligates the City Council to negotiate with such organizations. Should these negotiations fail to resolve the issues, then the matters would be submitted to a career service board of impartial local residents to recommend solutions. If agreement then cannot be reached, the voters would have the opportunity to determine the final settlement. The citizens, therefore, would make the final decision, based on their own willingness to accept certain levels of service, to maintain competitive employee benefits, and to assume the costs of that decision . The Council encourages all citizens to maintain their right to govern their city by voting AGAINST the initiated firemen's Amendment No. 4, and FOR the referred Amendment No. 5, both of which will be on a separate, paper ballot at the forthcoming general election, November 7, 1972.