Uniontown City Council reorganizes, gives fire contract update
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
Bernie Kasievich (left) as the newly installed Mayor of Uniontown, presides over his first meeting of the Uniontown City Council. Kasievich listens as Councilman Blair Jones comments on agenda items during the meeting.
Judge Joseph M. George, Jr. (right) administers the oath of office to newly elected members of Uniontown City government. They include (from left) Controller James Sileo; Councilman Blair Jones; Treasurer Joseph Giachetti, Mayor Bernie Kasievich; and Councilman Phillip Michael.
Council presided over the swearing in of several city officials and a new mayor during its reorganization meeting Monday, which was followed by a regular meeting.
Fayette County Court of Common Pleas Judge Joseph George Jr. administered the oath of office to new Mayor Bernie Kasievich, newly re-elected Councilmen Phil Michael and Blair Jones, and re-elected Treasurer Joseph Giachetti and re-elected Controller James Sileo.
Kasievich was named director of public affairs, succeeding former Mayor Ed Fike, while Michael remained director of accounts and finances, Councilman Jared Billy remained director of public safety, Jones remained director of streets and public improvement and Francis “Joby” Palumbo remained director of parks and public programs.
More than 30 people attended the reorganization meeting, prompting Councilman Billy to encourage a similar increase in meeting attendance going forward.
“It will benefit everybody to be here; we’ve got to have more people at meetings,” Billy said. “It’s your city.”
Following a 30-minute executive session to discuss personnel matters, council discussed ongoing contract negotiations between the city and the firefighters’ union, International Association of Firefighters Local 955.
Jones asked Billy for an update on the negotiations, and Billy responded that a contract needed to be secured in the next two to three months. Michael said he spoke with the union president earlier in the day and added a contract probably would be secured in February or March.
“We could have had this (secured) in 2014,” Billy said. “We had negotiating leverage.”
“The year before last, (negotiations) fell apart,” said Uniontown Fire Chief Dane “Buck” Griffith.
A four-year contract between the city and International Association of Fire Fighters Union Local 955 expired on Dec. 31, 2014. That contract gave firefighters a yearly 3.5 percent wage increase after a panel of arbitrators ruled in 2010 that six union members laid off by the city must be rehired.
In related business, council voted to hire Joe George Sr. of George, Port and George at a rate of $125 per hour for labor negotiations and other assignments.
In other business, council appointed Robert Similo to the Greater Uniontown Joint Sewage Authority Board to serve a five-year term expiring in Dec. 2021. Council also authorized the position of code enforcement officer to be under the Department of Public Affairs effective immediately.
Later, council voted on several reorganization-related resolutions. Council approved Michael to serve as acting city clerk at no pay and full-time city employee Shannon Wood as acting deputy city clerk at $20 per hour until a replacement clerk is hired. Kim Marshall, former city clerk, resigned at the end of 2015.
Council also authorized the acting city clerks to advertise for public work sessions to be held on the last Wednesday of each month at 5 p.m. at city hall, effective Jan. 27. These sessions will be used to develop the agenda for council’s regular meetings, inviting citizen input.
“This will stop the public from believing backdoor meetings are being held,” Jones said.
Additionally, council voted to change the time of regularly scheduled council meetings to 5 p.m. on the first Wednesday of each month instead of 4:30 p.m., effective Feb. 3, to accommodate both council members and attending residents.