Would release on minimum staffing requirements save town funds?

NORTH PROVIDENCE - Whether state lawmakers will allow towns to reduce the number of firefighters and police officers on each shift remains undecided at the Statehouse.

On one side, municipal leaders in towns such as North Providence, Lincoln and Pawtucket have asked state lawmakers to release them from the minimum staffing requirements in agreements they made with police and fire unions. They want to be able to reduce the size of government if they need to.

Gov. Don Carcieri, too, has proposed that cities and towns not have to abide by the minimum staffing requirements in contracts.

On the other hand, the union president for firefighters in North Providence says that the number of firefighters was reached through negotiation after looking at research and safety.

"I truly believe the House and Senate understand these are bargainable issues," Silva said Monday, March 8. " - it isn't going to go through."

Mayor Charles A. Lombardi is keeping his fingers crossed.

"We're only hoping the General Assembly has the courage to address this problem," Lombardi said Monday.

The governor's proposal, part of the supplemental budget, is still in the hands of the House and Senate leadership, and is under discussion, said Larry Berman, spokesman for House Majority Leader Gordon Fox of Providence.

"That doesn't mean it still can't be discussed on the floor. It is a pretty volatile issue," Berman said Monday.

At least one lawmaker from North Providence would not support the minimum staffing relief that Carcieri proposes.

"There is no statute that requires a particular level of minimum staffing," Rep. Arthur Corvese, North Providence, told The Breeze. "What the towns and cities want us to do is correct mistakes they've made in contracts."

A similar sentiment has been expressed by the Senate President M. Teresa Paiva-Weed. When she appeared on Rhode Island PBS last month, she said of the governor's bill, "What they're asking us to do is abrogate a contract."

Sen. Frank Ciccone, of North Providence, said he and other senators are keeping an open mind about the issue.

But he pointed out that in committee hearings, municipal leaders conceded that there were no state laws that needed to be repealed.

"If this is a problem, and you are negotiating it, then why do you continue?" he recalled hearing from Sen. Edward O'Neill, of Lincoln.

"We are trying to negotiate it out," Lombardi said Monday. "That's why we're going to arbitration."

The town and its firefighters will try to settle its contract disputes through arbitration this summer.

Minimum staffing began appearing in the 1970s when deaths had increased due to weak safety standards, according to Silva, the union president.

In 1980, North Providence adopted minimum staffing of two firefighters to a truck.

In 1989, the Fire Department underwent a restructuring during the administration of then-Mayor Salvatore Mancini, Silva said.

At that time, the town took three trucks out of service and closed some fire stations to reach the numbers in use today. But he pointed out that the union was part of negotiations to increase the number of firefighters per truck to three. Safety guidelines of the National Fire Protection Association recommend four firefighters per truck, Silva said, although the union recognized that the town could not afford that level of staffing.

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