Village officials are heading to arbitration to resolve issues surrounding the termination of two Department of Public Works employees.
Teamsters Local 214 President Joe Valenti, who is representing Bill Prince and Kevin Booms, said Tuesday an agreement to arbitrate the Prince case had been reached and the Booms case will also be arbitrated, with the only issue remaining whether they will be consolidated or have separate arbitrators.
Valenti said Booms was offered an economic settlement from the village, but rejected it. Booms declined to elaborate on what he was offered, but called it ‘insulting.?
‘They flat out refuse to offer anything on the Prince case,? said Valenti. ‘It means that it will be a dragged out, costly situation for both sides. It will cost us money, it will cost the village money. I don’t know what they are thinking.?
Village Council President Ken Quisenberry said he was unaware of the status of negotiations between the union and village attorney.
‘I haven’t directed the attorney to offer anything,? he said. ‘As attorneys, I’m sure they float things all the time. If there were hypothetical things thrown around, that may be the case, but nothing has been brought to the village yet, nor would I expect it to be. This is going to run a course and where that couse leads, we just don’t know yet.?
Village officials have not discussed the reasons for the termination of the DPW workers, but Booms said he was told he was fired for driving the snowplow in a careless and reckless manner on Christ-mas Eve. In January, business owners signed a petition calling for a change in village snow removal procedures.
Prince was allegedly terminated for going over his allotted cell phone minutes, even though the union contract states that if an employee has more than 500 minutes in a month, he simply has to pay the difference. Prince was over by 200 minutes.
The Village DPW has had numerous problems in the past few years, including broken and improperly maintained equipment. Prince has received multiple disciplinary actions, including suspensions, for varying offenses since he was hired in January 2006. Booms has not been previously disciplined in five years as a village employee.
Valenti suggested the village could reinstate Prince and Booms under ‘last chance? agreements, in which if they have a similar infraction within a year or two of being put back to work they could be terminated again, but without arbitration. Normally, he noted, these agreements don’t offer backpay, which the former employees are seeking, but each case is different. He expects Booms to have a ‘very good chance? of a favorable ruling in arbitration, while he estimates Prince’s percentage as ?50-50.?
An arbitration date has not been set.