The city and the union representing its Department of Public Works employees have come to an agreement on a new three-year contract.
The agreement was presented to the council Monday night, and will be taken up for further discussion at its next ways and means subcommittee meeting.
District 8 Councilor Calvin Brown requested that the council consider approving the contract at Monday night’s meeting. He said he spoke with City Manager Fidel Maltez and that the financial impact of the agreement would fall under the Fiscal Year 2026 budget, negating the need for further review in subcommittee or a second reading before approval.
However, District 1 Councilor Todd Taylor, who chairs the ways and means subcommittee, said he would still like the opportunity to ask questions about the agreement.
“I feel like I need to do my due diligence in having all the financial orders come through my committee,” Taylor said, adding that he did not believe there would be any negative impact of having the order come up in subcommittee before a vote by the full council.
Brown said he did not have an issue with it going to ways and means.
The new collective bargaining agreement with Teamsters Local 25, covering the DPW workers, runs from July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2028.
“The major cost items of the particular agreement are the annual raises in the following amount: FY26 – 4.00%; Fy27 – 3.50%; and FY28 — 3.00%,” Maltez stated. “In addition, in FY26, there will be a one-time $1,200 base wage increase.”
The total cost of the contract over the three years is approximately $240,000, according to the city manager.
“The current contract is in place and expires on June 30 of this year, which means we are ahead of the game in terms of negotiating the contract,” said Maltez. “What is exciting about this one is once this contract is ratified by the city council … the city no longer has any outstanding agreements; all of our labor contracts at that point will be fully negotiated.”