Milford, firefighters union reach 3-year deal
MILFORD — City firefighters have a new three-year contact that the Board of Aldermen approved unanimously on Monday night as part of movement that one alderman hopes will improve sometimes frosty relations between the firefighters union and the city.
The board’s 12-0 vote came after about an hour of executive session and with Democrats Matt Arciuolo II, Brett Broesder and Ward Willis absent.
The financial terms of the deal, which is retroactive to July 1 and expires on June 30, 2026, were not immediately disclosed. The terms of the deal will be released when they are finalized, city Chief of Staff Justin Rosen said Tuesday.
The deal was good both for the city and members of Local 944 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, board Democratic Majority Leader Ellen Russell Beatty said.
“It’s a fair contract,” Beatty said after the meeting.
She said the city had upped its initial offer.
“Previously, there was a lot of bad feeling (between firefighters and city officials),” she said. “We were in a tough position because some of us were aware that our budget was overly restrictive and we needed some corrections.”
The board’s Democratic majority added $210,000 to the Fire Department budget effective July 1, the start of the 202324 fiscal year, as part of those corrections, Beatty said.
Tony Giannattasio, Republican minority leader of the Board of Aldermen and a mayoral candidate, declined to comment after the meeting.
Ryan LaGuardia, the union’s president, did not immediately return messages left on Tuesday.
Beatty described the new deal as “the beginning of a repair process” between firefighters and city administration. She didn’t specify what she meant, but the fire union’s leadership said at the beginning of the year that federal funds the city allocated to the fire department could have
been better spent elsewhere.
The department received about $400,000 in pandemic relief funds from the city — $165,000 for communications equipment and $246,000 for EMS sustainability equipment — from Milford’s American Rescue Plan Act allotment, or federal pandemic bailout funding.
LaGuardia said at the time that the department appreciated the funding, but the purchases
could have been better directed by city administrators to more immediate department needs.
“We use these daily, but the money could have been used to go elsewhere that needed it more,” LaGuardia said.
“I’m not complaining because that is not what we do as firefighters. We get the job done. But I do feel like money was given out without knowing what is really going on.”
The funding could have paid for a new or repaired 100-foot ladder fire truck, building infrastructure, hazard pay or improvements to fire stations, LaGuardia said.
Then-Mayor Ben Blake responded by saying that the administration backed the fire department completely and that many allocations to the department came from recommendations from the fire department administrators.