Minutes 12/10/1936 - Laserfiche WebLink

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rized to pay same from funds in her hands from collection of Dog ta~es. As advertized in the IPortsmouth Star~, December 3rd, 1935, the meeting at this time .was opened to the public to partzc~pate in the discussi~n of the 1936 budget. A delegation of school teachers ~ud members of the School Board were pres- of restoring the last ent~ a~d Mr. Gaston Foote, and Miss Louise Mays spoke in favor out of 6% in teachers~ salaries. A committee of the Fire Department, consisting of S.H. Hall, E.M. Richard- son and KoL. Host, presented the following letter: "This committee, representing the personnel of the Portsmouth Fire Depart- ment has been requested to appear before your honorable body in regard to a petition handed the City Manager early in October for submission to the City Council. The petition is are- quest for restoration of at least part of ou~~ wage reduction, which totalled ll per cent dat- ing back to 1932; Informed of prospective reduction in the Public Safety Deoartmentts allot- ment in the 1936 budget, we are appealing here as a last resort for due consideration in this matter. Other cities throughout the State_have partially restored reductions in salaries. The firemen of this City are the only city employees required to work more than eig~ht hours a day. For three days we work straight through, a total of seventy-two hours after which we get 24 hours off. Firemen in all cities the size of Portsmouth, work shorter hours under better working conditions. We do not have Sundays or ~olidays off, as do other city employees. Our duties call for 2~ hours oer day s~ud even on our day off~ we are subject to call, although we are claso~f_ea as Der diem employees. There is not another znstance of 24~hour duty firemen carried on a per d~em basis that we know of. Eighteen and one half (18½) cents per hour is our pay as per diem men, ~k.~6 a day. The Chiefs and officers are mont~hly pay men. Engineers and hosemen are pe~ diem men, who work the same hours and are sub, eot to the smme working conditions, but are tak- en off the pay roll %n event of sickness, which sometimes is caused by exposure. These condi- tions are not fair[ we believe. We feel t~hat all members of the department should be carried on the payroll on a monthly basis. There are at the present eleven monthly men and twenty-four per diem men. Secondly: The City does not own a bed,.-~bed linens, bed clothing, uniforms or rubber clothes for fire ~ighters such as are provided by other cities. The firemen of our city have to furnish the above material, which are very expensiv~ and cause additional hard- ships on them. We are also required to f~rnish the above-materials for substitute firemen. This is equivalent to a salary re~ction, having tO~Turnish and maintain this equipment. As the cost of living has and still is advancing rapidly~ we hope this honorable body will give our request most earnest and careful consideration. Respectfully yours, Stmuley H. Hall E.M. Richardson EcL. Host,~ On motion, the letter, except reference te increase to the City Mana~ero Mr. Long presented the pleafor free school books. in pay, was referred Mr, W.L. Ricks asked for consideration of increase in pay. On motion of Mr. Fox, the Council adjourned to meet Tuesday, December 17th~ at 8:00 P.M. Approved - President. ~ityCler~.