Ok, so what about this new Contract?...........................

I have a copy of the contract and have considered posting it, or the most onerous portions of it, for my readers to see.. I have chosen not to, primarily because I'm not certain what it is.................really!

Even the Town Council members couldn't seem to agree at the meeting on the 20th, when Mayor Smith read a prepared statement and presented the contract.

In his statement (I cannot quote word for word), Mayor Smith seemed to indicate that this was the contract, that the SSVFD needed to respond (sign?) within seven days, or “an alternative means” (of service?) would have to be arranged. He seemed to indicate that this was final and non-negotiable.

Council member Hess recognized this and objected. This lead to further discussion among the Council members as to whether the contract had been negotiated, ultimately arriving at the conclusion that it had not.

Council member McDonald disagreed that this was an ultimatum and indicated that this was a draft intended to initiate negotiations. I believe this sentiment was reinforced by comments from the other Council members. The published Agenda for the council meeting referred to this as a “draft” contract, while the Broadcast email refers to it as “proposed”.

If it's a draft, why is there a “drop dead” date of January 27th? The current contract is in effect until the end of June.

Judging from my use of the words “seem”, “indicated”, and “believe”, I hope you can appreciate my predicament and understand why I have not posted the contract. After all, if it is actually a proposal and allowance is made for negotiation, the onerous points may not even appear in the final draft. It really did not look like the council had their act together on this.

None the less, the Town Council did vote 4 – 1 to present the contract to the SSVFD Board of Directors.

To add to the confusion, the copies of the contract presented to the Fire Chief and Chairman of the SSVFD were not complete, containing only the first two and last pages. The Town Manager had new copies made for them after the meeting.