advertisements
News
City of Bartlesville
Posted: Mar 03, 2026 10:26 AMUpdated: Mar 03, 2026 10:26 AM
Mayor Curd Talks Firefighters Union Contract
Tom Davis
Joining us on KWON Radio's CITY MATTERS program, Bartlesville Mayor James Curd talked about the recent city council's acceptence of the contract after an arbitrator's ruling in favor of the Bartlesville Professional Firefighters Union Local 200.
Mayor Curd said, "We've had a long road down the contract negotiations with them and it came to an arbitration last night and our hearing earlier in February and the arbitrator in this case ruled in favor of the union's last best offer. So we accepted that last night and are prepared to move forward with a new contract negotiation starting very, very soon."
Curd explained that these are difficult negotiations and it's all part of the system that we have and he is looking forward to a new contract with them.
Among the things the city learned from this negotiation and the arbitrators is that the city certainly has good positions in both the sick leave abuse and in regards to promotions. He said, "The arbitrator's rulings clearly outlined where they favored."
Curd explained that in this type of an arbitration, it's called an impasse arbitration. It's all or nothing. Curd said, "Whether they liked the city's position on the promotions and felt we needed some more work on the sick leave abuse, they ruled in favor of the contract for the firefighters. So we've got a good base to continue our negotiations for next year with the firefighters."
Curd stated that he is disappointed that the city doesn't have a relationship with the firefighters where they understand the impact of sick leave on the budget and the amount of dollars that we spend on sick leave. He said he hopes that ultimately the city can address that at a better rate so that they can improve that situation, save some tax dollars on sick leave and move forward with that.
In terms of promotions, Curd thinks promoting people based on merit and their qualifications is the way to go and he is confident that the city will find a happy medium between seniority and testing and then a committee to pick out of the top two or three candidates for a position.
In closing, the Mayor said, "I think our team, Cuty Attorney Jess Kane and our City Manager Mike Bailey, our fire chief Call all did a great job in arbitration and represented the city well.
« Back to News
