There looks to be little doubt that the negotiations for a new contract between the city of Auburn and its fire department are likely to be lengthy and vitriolic, at best. At issue is whether a 15-man minimum serves the citizens of Auburn both from a safety and fiduciary point of view.

Yet, in what has become one of the oddest strategies, the process for negotiations has not started by letter or at a negotiating table, but on the front pages of local newspapers. Over the last several weeks the union, led by its president, Steven Parker, and attorney, Mimi Satter, have been aggressive in their comments about where they are with the city and what their position is.

In most instances, unless there has been an egregious official public comment in the past by one of the sides, the venom is kept, at least at the beginning, within the negotiating room. In this case, it has included the union#'s legal counsel providing correspondence with the union to the media with the express intention of saying they won#'t respond to the city's request to ”formal collective bargaining.”

While reporters and editors love this sort of back and forth (and it has been mainly from the city#'s fire union, to this point), one has to ask if this is the best way to handle discussions to get a fruitful and fair contract and resolution of the issues?

Mix into this the injunctive relief the union has now secured in County Court to prevent two trainees to help reduce the city's overtime cost, which over the last three years has escalated to over $1 million. The public can't help but be confused if the use of these two new recruits raises a safety issue, as Parker contends, or a matter of financial soundness, as Fire Chief Michael Hammon argues. Part of that confusion comes from the harsh and flippant comments made by the union and its attorney on their stand to not negotiate with the city because of the city's failure to send the union proper notice, 180 days in advance of the current contract expiring at the end of June.

Much has been made of the city not officially requesting formal negotiations with Auburn#'s firefighters (a deadline with the assistant chiefs was also missed, but the city's police department did send a letter requesting negotiations). The city's failure to send out notice is inexplicable (and one of the best cases being made behind the scenes for a full-time corporation counsel). Yet, the road of negotiations is usually long and winding.

One would think that until the process moves further along, public comments would be kept to a minimum in an effort to find common ground not public relations points.

Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com.