By Tom Shaw
Omaha World - Herald (Nebraska)
Copyright 2006 Omaha World - Herald
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
Despite opposition from the local firefighters union, the Bluffs City Council voted Monday to formally eliminate two positions from the fire department.
The council voted 4-1 to cut a firefighter position and paramedic position through attrition. A firefighter is retiring by the end of the year, and the paramedic position has been vacant.
Councilman Darren Bates, an Omaha fire captain, voted against the cuts, saying the city needs more people in public safety, not fewer.
The two spots were among five city positions the council voted last June to not fund as part of almost $1.1 million in spending cuts for the 2006-07 fiscal year. On the fire chief’s recommendation, the council waited until now to eliminate the positions so the retirement could take place.
Randy Schroeder, secretary of the fire union, told the council that it wasn’t wise to cut the department’s staff at a time when the city is growing.
“Don’t take our knees out from under us,” Schroeder said.
He said a fire truck that serves the western part of the city has been out of service 82 days this year because of a lack of adequate staffing.
Fire Chief Alan Byers said that while the number of firefighters has decreased from about 110 in 2003 to 100 now, that isn’t causing the current staffing problem.
He told the council earlier Monday that the reason for the staffing shortage was because a high number of firefighters are injured or on military leave.
Mayor Tom Hanafan said city leaders support solid public safety, but he “had to make some tough decisions” with the budget.
Alluding to another agenda item, Schroeder also said the city had used some of its gambling funds to pay street and sewer costs near the Mid-America Center when property tax money couldn’t foot the bill. He questioned the city’s priorities, saying that gambling money could have gone to public safety.
The City Council voted unanimously to use property tax money from the new Horseshoe Casino, which has been included in a special taxing district, to help pay the street and sewer bonds and to repay gambling funds that had been used to make bond payments.
Council approves Metro Crossing
A large shopping plaza in eastern Council Bluffs was given final approval Monday by the Bluffs City Council.
Metro Crossing will sit on about 85 acres west of Interstate 29 and north of U.S. Highway 275. The center will have 22 lots for large retailers, shops and restaurants.
One of the developers, Mark Andersen, said negotiations are continuing with tenants and those tenants would make their own announcements. The developers have said they were in talks with Kohl’s department store as a possible anchor.
Andersen said construction will begin in the spring. Right now, dirt is being hauled to the site to raise the area out of a flood plain.
As part of its agreement, the city will rebate a portion of Metro Crossing’s property taxes back to the developers in an amount of up to $7.3 million.