Sat Mar 13 2010
by Amanda Harnocz
Reporter
Stow -- Mayor Christopher Grimm planned to meet with Stow Mayor Karen Fritschel March 6 to discuss the former Tallmadge dispatchers, who he says is not receiving seniority at Stow's new emergency dispatch center.
Grimm said March 5 that if the five dispatchers don't get their contractually-promised seniority in full, he has thought about ending the current dispatching arrangement with Stow and again consider a Council of Governments.
"Worst case scenario, we'll go back and visit that [COG] idea," said Grimm. "It would still include the new dispatch center in Stow, but something needs to be resolved. At this point it is just an idea."
Grimm said a COG with area communities could eliminate the issues with a new contract.
Fritschel said March 5 that she, too, hoped to resolve the issue during the Friday meeting.
The results of the March 6 meeting were not available by press time.
The contract, approved by Tallmadge City Council last summer, requires Stow to provide emergency dispatching for all of Tallmadge and required Stow to take on the five former Tallmadge telecommunicators.
Keeping the former Tallmadge employees' vacation time, seniority and pay rate was also defined in the contract.
Tallmadge is now paying Stow $315,000 annually for the next 20 years of service, with a 3 percent cost of living increase every year. A sister contract allows Stow to maintain and service the Tallmadge radio and future radio systems for $30,000 annually.
The five former Tallmadge dispatchers who've been working in Stow since September are not receiving all of the seniority they were promised in the contract, said Grimm.
Grimm said the dispatchers are getting most of the seniority spelled out in the contract, like vacation time and pay, except for shift preferences, which will end in 2010.
Also, he said, dispatchers are working without a union contract and haven't had one for more than a year. Stow is part of the Ohio Patrolman's Benevolent Association.
Fritschel confirmed the Stow dispatchers are currently receiving shift and vacation preferences, but would not receive that at the end of the year.
She also said the telecommunicators are working without a union contract.
"There is a seniority issue now because of the combining of the two dispatch units," Fritschel said. "But, there are no economic losses at all to the [former] Tallmadge dispatchers."
"If we're not going to get everything ... there is a value assigned to that [," said Grimm. "We negotiated a contract to make sure they got everything.
"If I had thought that was all they were going to get, I would have probably looked at Cuyahoga Falls more seriously" for emergency dispatch services, he said.
Regardless of the union contract differences, Fritschel said the emergency dispatch center, 3800 Darrow Road, is running well and handling all calls efficiently.
"We were really lucky," she said. "Tallmadge had excellent dispatchers and we were able to adjust quicker than I had anticipated."
E-mail: aharnocz@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-686-3911
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