Ogdensburg, NY Local 1799 members are looking forward to rebuilding their fire department after three years of litigation with the City of Ogdensburg ended in their favor. An arbitrator awarded Local 1799 members $519,680 in backpay and determined that the city violated the contract when it mandated a staffing level of fewer than five fire fighters per shift.
“Building relationships and garnering public support were key to getting through this process,” said Local 1799 President Jason Bouchard. “We appreciate all the advice and assistance we received from the IAFF and other Locals, and we are thankful for the arbitrator’s fair ruling.”
Ogdensburg is a small city near the Canadian border with 27 fire fighters operating out of one fire station. The saga began there, in 2020, when the newly elected mayor, Jeff Skelly, along with city manager Stephen Jellie, who was also fire chief, decided to lay off multiple fire fighters, citing financial constraints. Despite Local 1799’s efforts, their preliminary injunction in the state Supreme Court was denied, leading to the layoff of five fire fighters and the retirement of two others.
Local 1799 also filed a grievance, contending that the layoffs would result in a violation of their contract, which stipulates a minimum staffing requirement of five fire fighters per shift.
“Fire fighters and the public were put in a very dangerous situation as we no longer had enough fire fighters on shift to provide adequate service to the city,” said Bouchard. “We often didn’t have enough fire fighters to follow national safety standards for interior attacks and mutual aid is about 20 minutes away.”
The city responded by filing suit against Local 1799, seeking a permanent stay of arbitration. State Supreme Court Judge Mary Farley initially ruled in favor of the city but Local 1799’s successful appeal in January 2022 before the state Appellate Division in Albany turned the tide.
The final verdict was delivered that December by an arbitrator who found the city violated the contract when it forced the department to staff fewer than five members on a shift. The ruling mandated the city to compensate Local 1799 for the owed backpay and sent the two sides to negotiate on payment terms.
After extensive deliberation, the Ogdensburg City Council voted in July 2023 to pay a lump sum of $519,680.
Stephen Jellie resigned in November 2022. The current city manager is Mohideen Buharie and the acting fire chief is Kenneth Stull.
