After spending some time in closed session during Tuesday evening’s meeting, the Danville City Council passed a new four year deal for the firefighters union. The contract is retroactive to May 1st of 2021, running through April 30th of 2025. There will be two percent raises the first and third years, and three percent raises the second and fourth years.
Mayor Rickey Williams, Jr indicated he would have preferred some changes in “minimum manning,” but said there was not enough support among current aldermen to push for those changes. Meanwhile, Fire Chief Don McMasters stated that the city is very happy to have the contract settled after about a year and a half of negotiations. The firefighters had already approved the contract, and a signing was scheduled for Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, despite “no” votes from Aldermen Burt, Puhr, and O’Kane; the Council passed the latest version of the camper and RV parking ordinance; which is little change from where it was before. Alderman Sherry Pickering explained that you still need to park your camper in your back or side yard, but not in a side yard on a corner on the side of the street. There will be more crackdown on the parking of campers in dilapidated condition, to be determined by inspectors. And you can still get permission from the zoning administrator to park in your driveway up to 30 days over a year, non-consecutive.
Danville resident Pamela Gorman addresses City Council about camper parking issue.
One person who addressed the Council, Pamela Gorman, was not happy; saying there’s still too much confusion, and that she sees nothing wrong with how her family’s camper is parked.
AUDIO: And I just don’t understand why they’re picking on trailers. They’re mentioning you can have a trailer if it’s in the backyard or the side yard. Well, that looks tacky to me. We have a padded driveway over to the side. It’s not in the side yard, because we don’t have a side yard, It’s licensed, titled, insured, everything; up to code, it’s not dilapidated. My thing is, go after the offenders. Quit picking on the people who are trying to do right.
And finally, the anticipated “updated proposed salary plan” for the mayor, treasurer, and aldermen positions was not on the agenda. Mayor Williams stated that it’s still being worked on.
