The City Council approved the two contracts Tuesday night.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The City Council approved new agreements with the police patrol and firefighter unions.

 

However, the city will be shortly back to the bargaining table because the contracts will only be valid until the end of June. Workers in both unions have been working under an expired contract for the last 2 1/2 years as the two sides worked through a new contract.

 

The city is using $524,460 from free cash to fund the retroactive pay for the firefighters and $402,954 for the police patrol union. 

 

"The raises here are not large. The total looks large because they are 2 1/2 years retro pay," said Councilor at Large Barry Clairmont. "This contract is for three years and we have six months left on it."

 

Both contracts are up a total of 5.5 percent over the length of the contract and are on the same raise schedule. For 2012 and 2013, the employees are getting a 1 percent raise each year. In 2014, they received 1 percent at the start of the year and 1 percent in July. At the start of 2015, they will get a 1.5 percent raise. The leather allowance for the firefighters increased from $350 to $500 and the police boot allowance increased from $300 to $500.

 

"We worked really hard on this and we're hoping you'll accept it," Police Patrol Union President Jeffrey Coco told the City Council.

 

The police contract had already been vetted on the subcommittee level and was unchanged. The firefighters' contract didn't have to be. The City Council opted not to go through the Finance Subcommittee because of the likelihood of being sent back to them unchanged — a pleasant surprise to Timothy Bartini, president of International Association of Firefighters Local 2647, who was in attendance.

 

"We don't have a lot of leeway with these contracts," said Councilor at Large Kathleen Amuso. "I'd like to take care of it tonight. They are not lucrative contracts."

 

State Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier told the City Council that the vote on a new school will be coming to them in the spring.

The City Council easily approved the contract but urged the administration and the unions to get working on the next contract earlier so that in the future, the city isn't paying retroactive pay.

 

In other business, the City Council accepted the $4.5 million grant from the state to complete the North Street reconstruction project. 

 

"It is continuation of the work we've done in phases so we have a pretty good idea of the design elements," said Director of Community Development Douglas Clark. "We'll be going full stream ahead."

 

Clark says the construction will start on July 1, 2015, and will be completed by the end of 2016.

 

The City Council also saw a presentation from Carl Franceschi, of Drumney Rosane & Anderson Architects Inc., regarding the design of the proposed new Taconic High School — he presented the same presentation as he had the night before to the School Building Needs Commission.

 

State Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier told the City Council that now is an important time for the project and asked the councilors to hold ward meetings and ask questions. In the spring, the City Council will be asked to vote to spend some $40 million to build the new structure.

 

"We are giving you a lot of time to ask a lot of questions," Farley-Bouvier said. "There is going to be a very important vote coming in a couple months."