ELYRIA — The International Association of Fire Fighters Local 474, which represents 52 Elyria firefighters, is pulling out a never-before-used article of their contract that allows them to bring safety recommendations to the City Council Public Safety Committee in hopes of change.

Monday evening, Dean Marks, the union’s president, addressed the five-member committee and requested a meeting be set for him to present his recommendations to the body.

“At the very least, I hope to educate Council members so they can understand the hazards that now exist in the Fire Department because of the lack of manpower,” he said.

In a letter that made its way to Council members after it went to Fire Chief Rich Benton and Safety Service Director Chris Eichenlaub, the union claims the Fire Department is operating at unsafe levels at all fire incidents. The union membership would like to see the city change its policy and allow firefighters to respond to a fire in a manner that aligns with national standards.

“I can’t put a number on what would make us safe, but I can say having 15 guys show up as an initial response would make us safer,” he said.

However, Mayor Bill Grace told Council members the standards the union would like to see adopted are standards that barely 10 percent of the fire departments in the country meet.

“So you say we are operating at unsafe levels, but you are unwilling to put a number to what would be safe,” he said to Marks.

Before the discussion could get too lengthy it was decided by Councilwoman Mary Siwierka, D-at large, that a meeting would be held in the near future to allow everyone ample time to gather information for presentations. Siwierka, who leads the committee, said the meeting would be a two-hour meeting where presentations from the union and administration will be heard by Council.

While this is the first time the union has used this particular article of their contract to come before Council, it is not the first time a presentation in regards to the Fire Department has been made in Council chambers.

Since August 2007, the operations of the Fire Department have been in the limelight with Grace and Marks both making multiple presentations to Council. In addition, a presentation by an Illinois-based consulting firm was also made in 2009 after they were contracted to do an audit of the Fire Department.

However, even that report has not stopped the discussions on where the Fire Department should go. The layoff of 17 firefighters in 2009 further complicated matters and resulted in Marks filing a taxpayer’s lawsuit against the city in hopes of having firefighters returned to work.

But as city Law Director Terry “Pete” Shilling pointed out Monday, the lawsuit has since been dismissed as the union has decided to take this new avenue.

If Council doesn’t give firefighters what they ask for — which includes restoring cuts imposed on the Fire Department — the union could take the issues to arbitration under the firefighters’ contract with the city, Shilling said.

Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.

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