City Council - Special Meeting

I'd like to welcome everybody to the city commission meeting for September 24th, 2026 at 230. we will move right into public comment. Do we have any cards?

Anybody else from the public wish to speak? We'll close public comment then and move on to our one item today, which is the approval and ratification of the collective bargaining agreement between the city of Apopka and the Apopka Professional Firefighters Association. Chief Sanchez. Yes.

That was very efficient. Thank you, Chief Sanchez. Any questions, comments from the diaries?

Well, so the only issue with that is that it would have to go back to the union to get re-approved by them then too.

And I believe, and Chief, please correct me, any small adjustments we can, the contract doesn't have to stay right where it is. We find scrivener's errors similar to the date, things like that can be changed as long as there's agreement between the union.

It's just work. What other ones do you want to address? And again, I... unless it's super material to the contract itself i wouldn't want to change it right now only because it will delay the process uh and get us where we need to be because this current contract that we're in expires the end of this month yes sir so i want to make sure that uh and and if we did adjust it today let's say we adjust it today i i assume there would be some type of provisions in timelines to have to go back to the union or is that

Okay. So that and so that I'd rather not go that route right now. I'd rather get this contract in place to make sure that they are safe and protected and feel that we are absolutely on the team. Not that you're trying to pull the rug out from them by any means. But I don't want that to be the sentiment at all.

What other provisions, I guess, do you want to discuss just so that we can have a discussion now and then the union can understand moving forward what may be heading their way in the coming weeks or months?

Well, I think I'm comfortable the way that it's written right now, and we can definitely readdress it down the road as needed. And if we want that comfort level there, we can definitely do that if the commission wants that as a whole. Any other questions, comments from the commissioners?

Awesome. Well, no, I do want to echo that same thing. I know you put a lot of hard work into this and you really helped to reestablish that this process doesn't need to be adversarial, that we're all working together. We're all working towards a common goal and it's serving our residents and making sure that as a commission, we're taking care of you guys as well. So. We'll make, we'll continue to make improvements too. And something the chief and I would always discuss too is that just because it's in the contract doesn't mean we're not going to continue to improve things. It doesn't have to b

All those in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Aye. Motion carries unanimously.

Well, Chief, do you want to say any final words here or any final comments?

Would the union president like to say anything? I'm honored.

Well, before we draw a few final comments that it is clear that this commission is behind you. Our city is behind you and we appreciate what you do. So let us know what else we can do to make it better other than salary increases. Just kidding. But no, we genuinely appreciate you. We will work continually to make sure that we can serve you. You guys are serving us as well. So thank you. With that, we are adjourned.