Aug 25, 2010 By Steve Ferris 3 min read

The revolving door at the Uniontown fire station might turn again this year. Uniontown City Council, which has laid off and recalled firefighters several times during the last two years, voted on Tuesday to notify the fire department about possible layoffs.

Council members unanimously voted to instruct Councilman Gary Gearing, the director of public safety, to hand deliver a letter about potential firefighter layoffs to Capt. Mark Lovey, president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 955, which represents the city firefighters.

The motion was not on the agenda for the special meeting, but council and the city’s labor relations attorney Bernie Schneider met in a closed-door executive session for about an hour and 15 minutes during the meeting. The agenda said the executive session was for labor relations matters.

After the meeting, Mayor Ed Fike referred questions about the possible layoffs to Schneider, who declined comment.

Gearing said the contract between the city and union requires the city to inform the union about possible layoffs and the letter is not a public document until after it has been delivered, but declined further comment.

Fire Chief Charles Coldren said the move came as a surprise to him, but declined to comment further.

Two of the seven firefighters who were laid off in 2008 and 2009 were called back to work in March this year and the city was notified in May that its application for a $632,835 federal SAFER grant to recall the laid-off firefighters had been approved.

The city has not yet received authorization to spend the grant money, Coldren said before the meeting.

Three firemen were among 31 employees council laid off in October 2008 after Fike said the city had a deficit of more than $1 million due to unpaid bills left by the previous administration.

In February 2009, 10 more employees, including three additional firemen, were laid off.

Council and the union negotiated an agreement that resulted in the rehiring of all seven firefighters in March 2009, but council laid them off again in December that year.

One fireman retired after the two firefighters were recalled in March this year.

In another fire department matter, council directed Coldren to replace assistant fire chief Myron Nypaver and firefighter Brian VanSickle with Gearing and City Clerk Kimberly Marshall as the points of contact for the SAFER grant.

In unrelated business, council approved a request from Patricia Caporella Filak, owner of Caporella’s Italian Ristorante in Perryopolis, to transfer a restaurant liquor license from Franklin Township to the city.

Filak said she wants to relocate the restaurant to a larger venue in Grindle Station on Pittsburgh Street.

The liquor license transfer request now goes to the state Liquor Control Board (LCB) for consideration.

Filak said she would like to relocate in mid-October if the LCB approves the transfer.

Council held a hearing on the transfer request prior to the special meeting.

Councilman Philip Michael said 23 people work at the restaurant now, but that number would grow to about 35 if the business moves to the city. He said the restaurant’s seating capacity of 45 would increase to about 120 at the city venue.

In other business, council:

n Agreed to advertise for requests for proposals (RFP) for a financial consultant to design and evaluate an RFP for an investment manager for police and fire department employee pension assets.

n Accepted the resignation of tax clerk Julie Bryner and agreed to pay her $2,169 for unused sick days, vacation time and personal days.