The City of Bartlesville will send the election board a resolution calling an election asking voters to decide which of two last best contract offers of a contract between the city and its firefighters will be implemented.  David Taylor summarized the two positions for the council during a noon-hour meeting on Friday.

 

City Clerk Mike Bailey commented that the past pattern of offering a 5 percent step increase was implemented during years when Bartlesville would see inflation rates of 9 percent or more.  He told the council current economic conditions would suggest a more attainable 2 and a half percent hike.  After about 20 minutes of presenting and discussing the situation, councilman Jim Curd offered a motion to reject the arbitration opinion.

 

City Attorney Jerry Maddox will prepare the resolution.  The firefighters union and the city will need to agree on ballot language.  The resolution will be delivered to the election board early next week and an election date will be assigned.  Several councilmen expressed the hope that contract differences could be resolved before the administrative details required to hold an election could be accomplished.