Even City Council candidate Bruce Philpott, who spent months lobbying the council in 2007 for reduced firefighter staffing on engine companies, has largely dropped the issue on the campaign trail.
But on Tuesday, council members took it a step further, with Councilman Dave Weaver calling out a “handful of gadflies” for continuing to disseminate false information for political gain.
“I wish all this diatribe would end,” he said.
Even in the face of the agreement with the Glendale Firefighters Assn., which represents 178 members, two of its most ardent critics were unrelenting, calling fire salaries “unsustainable.”
Herbert Molano argued that previous pay increases to firefighters and police have outstripped the consumer price index, a common measure used for cost-of-living pay adjustments, well above other departments, and repeated his demand for public contract negotiations.
“Can we have a rational discussion regarding firefighters and policemen?” he asked.
And Mike Mohill, another frequent City Hall critic, said six-figure payouts to firefighters were unjustified in the face of relatively few major fire incidents in the city.
“When’s the last time you read about a firefighter suffering an injury on the job, or losing his life in a war?” he asked, referring to the mortal dangers faced by combat troops, who he said were paid comparatively less.
But where in previous meetings their comments elicited more temperate responses, patience among city officials and City Council members Tuesday had clearly started to fray.
