During a city council meeting lasting more than three hours Tuesday, most of which was held in executive session, Pauls Valley City Council members chose to accept an arbitration board’s ruling in favor of the local firefighters union regarding their collective bargaining agreement with the city.
The city and the Pauls Valley Professional Firefighters Association IAFF Local 4455, the local fire labor union, have been working to negotiate a contract, or collective bargaining agreement, since before the beginning of the current fiscal year in July of 2025.
The firefighters association asked for arbitration earlier this year after being unable to reach an agreement with the city.
The arbitration board ruled in favor of the local firefighters union Friday, leaving city officials to decide whether to accept the ruling or reject it and call a special election to allow voters to decide the terms of the labor contract.
Background
Each year the city and the Pauls Valley Professional Firefighters Association IAFF Local 4455 negotiate a collective bargaining agreement that governs wages, hours and other terms of employment for the city’s firefighters. The agreement aligns with the city’s fiscal year and runs from July 1 to June 30.
An agreement for the current fiscal year (FY20252026) was never finalized after negotiations between the city and the local association broke down. The local association requested interest arbitration, a process in which a three-person arbitration board steps in to help resolve disputes when the parties fail to reach a bargaining agreement.
Pauls Valley City Manager Joe Livingston said the city received notice Feb. 20 that the arbitration board had ruled in favor of the local firefighters association.
Under Oklahoma law, the city has the option of rejecting the arbitration ruling and presenting the last, best offers of both the firefighters association and the city to voters in a special election, letting the decision of the voters establish the contract.
According to Livingston, the city only has 10 days following the ruling to express their intention to reject the arbitration decision and call a special election. Because of the timing of the ruling, just two business days before the city council’s regular meeting, and the deadline for making a decision, Livingston said he chose to include consideration of a resolution to call the election on Tuesday’s agenda, so council members would have the option of taking action if they decided to do so without having to call a special meeting.
Both Livingston and Lance Haines, the state union representative for this area, who attended Tuesday’s meeting, said an increase in wages or salaries was not the source of the breakdown in negotiations.
Livingston offered a little more detail in an interview with the News Star Wednesday, saying a lot of things go into the collective bargaining agreement, not all of which are straight salary, but contribute to a larger compensation package.
He said as the city is continuing to make budget cuts across all departments in an effort to reconcile expenses with existing revenue, he was asking for a bigger reduction in the overall compensation package than the association was willing to give.
“The fire department is not being selfish. They’re not being stubborn,” Livingston said. “They absolutely need to be compensated in a way that is competitive with other cities.”
However, he said there was a difference of opinion in how to accomplish that within the city’s current budget constraints, and that is where talks broke down.
Livingston also said at no point in the bargaining process did the city ask for additional staffing cuts.
Negotiations for the FY2026-27 collective bargaining agreement, which would normally begin in February, have been on hold as the current agreement continues to work through the arbitration process, according to Livingston. He said Wednesday, in light of the recent arbitration ruling, he expects the FY 2026-27 bargaining to begin soon.
Tuesday’s meeting
Three city council members were present for Tuesday’s regular meeting, Kahn Nirschl, Jonathan Grimmett and Bonnie Meisel. Council members Jocelyn Rushing and Amy Richey were not in attendance.
The council convened the Pauls Valley Municipal Authority meeting first, moving through that and the first few business items on the city council agenda in less than 10 minutes, and then voted to convene into executive session. The specific purpose of the executive session was not identified in the agenda item, which only listed the statutory authorization to convene an executive session “to discuss the employment, hiring, appointment promotion, demotion, disciplining or resignation of any individual salaried public officer or employee.”
The city manager and city attorney Jay Carlton joined council members in the closed executive session, which lasted for nearly three hours.
A little more than an hour into the executive session, council members requested Fire Chief Scott Woods join them. Woods exited the room about an hour later, and council members remained in closed session for another 45 minutes.
When council returned to open session, Councilman Grimmett announced there would be no action from executive session, but he requested the approximately 10 firefighters and their family members in attendance remain until the end of the meeting to hear from council members under the “council comments” agenda item.
“We have a few things we’d like to say to you all,” Grimmett said in making the request.
Council members moved through another business item and then took up the item to consider a resolution to call a special election to submit the collective bargaining agreement to voters.
“So, there will be no special election,” Grimmett said after Meisel read the agenda item.
Meisel clarified there would be no action on the agenda item.
As the meeting proceeded to the agenda item allowing for council comments, Grimmett addressed the firefighters in the room.
“When there’s another contract in 120 days, it doesn’t make a lot of sense (to call for an election). There’s too much acrimony,” Grimmett said. “We were, quite frankly, prepared to do it, and then we talked it through. Again, it doesn’t make a lot of sense, for either side. We can certainly swallow our pride for 120 days.”
Grimmett said he and Councilman Nirschl intend to be involve in the next round of negotiations for the FY2026-27 contract, in hopes of making the process go a little smoother.
“I don’t know where the lack of communication and all that happened, but we’ll try to figure it out, and find a more efficient way,” Grimmett said.
Nirschl clarified that while it’s not the council’s role to negotiate contracts on behalf of the city, that is the role of the city manager, he would like to be involved in supporting negotiations and “in helping the process go smoothly, so it can be a win-win for both parties.”
Both Grimmett and Nirschl invited firefighters to reach out to them with Nirschl adding he is willing to talk to anyone in the process.
“You guys have seen me do it. I take calls. I come in here an hour early to talk to Scott (Fire Chief Woods), and pull up a chair and say, ‘help me understand this,’” Nirschl said. “I think people doing that on both sides of the equation, things will work out just fine.”
Firefighters agreed with the sentiment, but reminded council that they also have their own requirements involving lines of communication when it comes to negotiations, which council members acknowledged.
“You guys are all from here. This is your home, and I’d like to think, in the grand scheme of things, you want what’s best for the town, as well as yourselves,” Grimmett said. “I get it. That’s a balancing act, and I understand that. But, there are some things that are untenable. And it’s a fact. And the thing that’s disappointing is that the word ‘lie’ got thrown out – he’s lying, they’re lying – you know, the numbers are black and white. The budget’s the budget. The numbers are the numbers. The tax revenue is the tax revenue. And so, the disappointing thing of the whole thing is that it got so acrimonious. Like I said, the numbers are the numbers. Hopefully we can get to a point where everyone believes everyone and we can go forward. I think it’s fixable. There’s no reason in the world it can’t be. We’ve just got to be grownups about it.”
Meisel had the last word, saying, “We do value you all. But I’m going to say to you one more time, my prayer for tonight: help us to listen with respect, and lead with integrity. Unite us in purpose, as we work for the good of our citizens and our community. So, I hope we can all do that. I think we can.”
To view Tuesday’s meeting, visit the Garvin County News Star’s YouTube page, or find the link in this story on our website, gcnewsstar. com.