Portage firefighters are set to get a pay raise. Under a three-year collective bargaining agreement approved by the city council and the firefighters union Wednesday, firefighters will get a 6.2-percent raise this year, a five-percent raise next year and a 3.8-percent raise in 2025.
City Attorney Dan Whitten believes it's a fair contract. "I think both sides compromised but did fine," Whitten told council members. "It's the way you want contract negotiations to finish."
Council member Collin Czilli said Wednesday's approval wraps up the city's union contract negotiations for a while. "Thanks to all the bargaining teams from the city's side, from the employees' side: Streets, Utilities, Police, Fire. It was, what, two years worth of bargaining? . . . But we're in a good place with all of these contracts and I think satisfied on both sides," Czilli said.
In other salary matters, the city council officially added a new sports director position. Park Superintendent Dyan Leto said the position will oversee the city's current athletic programs, while also adding new ones.
"The sports director would be over the downtown baseball fields, the softball complex and also the soccer fields at Imagination Glen," Leto explained.
The position's $55,000 annual salary will be funded initially by the Portage Redevelopment Commission.