Oswego Mayor Billy Barlow has signed an executive order to end the Oswego Fire Department's overtime practice that he says pads senior firefighters' salaries and violates the collective bargaining agreement between the city and the firefighter's union.
The order, which was issued last Wednesday, Aug. 10, comes days after Barlow's proposed budget for 2017 that calls for the elimination of 16 fire department positions.
John Geraci, president of the Oswego Firefighters Association Local 126, said the timing of the order and its announcement to the media was to draw attention away from the real issue of public safety: the cuts in positions. Barlow, who announced the order on Tuesday, said he's been looking into the fire department's budget since he took office.
Barlow said he found that the department established a "Do Not Call List" in which junior members of the department were encouraged to sign off on all overtime opportunities, which would then pass to those senior members within their last three years of employment before being eligible to retire.