Firefighter Impasse Delay

Today, the two-day hearing on the impasse between Local 727 and the City was supposed to begin before the Special Magistrate. However, the City failed to provide any notice to the public about the hearing. Because such notice is required in advance of a hearing, the hearing had to be rescheduled to March 3 and 4, 2021. wpbfirefighters.com

On January 26, 2021, about one week before the hearing was scheduled to commence, the City took the position that the impasse hearing – an extension of negotiations – is not required to be open to the public. The City attempted to convince the Special Magistrate to hold a hearing behind closed doors without the public’s knowledge or ability to attend, even trying to exclude affected firefighters.

After Local 727 explained that impasse hearings are subject to the Sunshine Law, on January 31, 2021, the Special Magistrate declared that the hearing would be open to the public. In response, the City again attempted to convince the Special Magistrate to keep the public in the dark. On February 1, 2021, after a request from Local 727 to clarify whether the hearing would be open to the public, the Special Magistrate confirmed that Florida law requires impasse hearings to be open to the public and so it would be.

At that point, just two days prior to the hearing, it was clear that the City, holding steadfast to its stance that the Sunshine Law should be ignored, had not provided reasonable notice about the hearing to the public. The City’s failure to provide reasonable notice would have caused a hearing, if it were still held on February 3 and 4, 2021, to have to be redone in the Sunshine.

The City’s attempt to hold the hearing in secret caused this postponement and has significantly delayed the resolution of the pending impasse. Local 727 has been negotiating with the City for more than a year. It is in the interest of taxpayers, and the parties, that impasse be resolved as efficiently and economically as possible.

Please stay tuned for more information on the issues at impasse at https://www.wpbfirefighters.com/. The firefighters, driver engineers, lieutenants, captains, and battalion chiefs involved hope that the residents of the City are able to support them by attending this hearing on March 3 and 4, 2021.

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