North County fire district tries to void contracts OK'd by ousted board [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

Sep. 10—HAZELWOOD — On the night before critics of the Robertson Fire Protection District were put in charge by voters, the district's union-backed board pushed through a new labor contract with an unusually long term.

Now the district's new board is seeking a new labor agreement even as it and the powerful firefighters' union are in court, fighting over that contract.

The lawsuit is one of two filed by new district board members challenging contracts that were greenlighted by their predecessors.

The second lawsuit asks a judge to invalidate a three-year contract with former Chief Todd Phillips that the district says included an "incredibly generous" $350,000 severance payout.

The two cases highlight the fallout from a rare leadership shakeup in one of the region's dozens of fire protection districts, which levy their own property taxes for emergency services and are run by boards whose members are often backed by the firefighters' union.

The districts' generous salaries — the median compensation for a Robertson employee was over $110,000 in 2021 — as well as free health insurance and large stipends provided to board members led to calls for reform 20 years ago following a Post-Dispatch series on fire protection district spending.

But other than at a few boards where critics managed to beat well-resourced, firefighters' union-backed candidates, fire districts have continued to operate with little scrutiny.

The recall of all three members of Robertson's board members in November is a notable exception. Robertson drew attention largely because of the impact it has on Hazelwood, a financially strapped city of about 25,000 in north St. Louis County. A nearly 30-year-old agreement required the city to pay millions to the district annually to compensate it for former pieces of fire district territory annexed by the city but still served by Robertson.

Hazelwood officials said the agreement's rising cost threatened to bankrupt the city and canceled the contract in 2017. A lawsuit has been pending between the two sides since. But the dynamics have changed completely since November.

Hazelwood officials and residents helped fund a political action committee that spent at least $17,000 to challenge the fire district. Firefighters' union-affiliated funds put more than $20,000 into a political action committee that backed the existing board and then tried to pick off one of the new directors in the regular April election.

Ultimately, the Robertson critics won. New Robertson board chair Jennifer Guyton said at a recent board meeting that the district hopes to work out a resolution of the fire district's contract with Hazelwood with a state law change during next year's legislative session.

Meanwhile, Guyton and her fellow board members are spearheading negotiations with Local 2665 of the Professional Fire Fighters of Eastern Missouri on a new labor contract and doing so publicly. They streamed their first bargaining session live and posted the video of the Aug. 31 meeting on the district's Facebook page.

Shortly after winning their seats, the new board voided the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) their predecessors had approved Nov. 7, the night before the election. In February, Robertson sued and asked a judge to say the contract was invalid, arguing it was voted on and discussed in violation of the Missouri Sunshine Law.

Local 2665 countersued, alleging the district has breached its contract and failed to process grievances.

Robertson's new leadership says the contract approved by the old board is "unprecedented" because it was for three years rather than a one-year term as past agreements had been.

"At the time, that's what the union wanted," former board member Michael Conley said of the longer contract term. "We understood their concerns. And the contract really never gave raises or anything, it just solidified everything."

Despite the litigation, the district and union agreed to operate under a short-term contract while they negotiate a new one. John Duffy, a district vice president at Local 2665, said the union told Robertson's new board it was open to negotiating certain provisions.

The litigation over the contract, Duffy said, is "basically on hold" while the two sides try and work out a deal.

"Our hope is at the end of this we can come up with a long-term CBA and the district won't have to spend as much money on lawyers and lawsuits," Duffy said.

Among the provisions the new board is targeting for negotiations is a health insurance plan paid entirely by district taxpayers. Fire employees and their families pay no premiums, co-pays or deductibles, according to the contract, and the coverage extends after they retire until they are eligible for Medicare. The plan had also been available to board members, but the new board has canceled the health insurance benefit for elected board members.

Guyton referred a reporter to the district's lawyer, Paul Martin, who also said the two sides are operating under the status quo while they negotiate.

"The parties are equally committed to try and resolve their differences and to accomplish that resolution through a new collective bargaining agreement," Martin said.

Former chief's contract

The district has no intention, however, of dropping the litigation over former Robertson Chief Phillips' contract, Martin said.

That lawsuit seeks to invalidate the contract and accuses the prior board of agreeing a month before the election to a contract with an "incredibly generous" severance package that could result in a $350,000 payout to Phillips, who served as chief for less than six months. The contract, agreed to in October, was approved without proper notice and recordkeeping under Missouri's Sunshine Law, the lawsuit says.

Board members sought "to insulate" Phillips "from the incoming board, so they tried to approve — without public disclosure, knowledge, or scrutiny — an employment contract that would prevent the new board members from firing Phillips, at least not without a steep cost to the district's taxpayers," the district says in its lawsuit.

Phillips had fought the new board's takeover. His daughter sued last year to try and block Guyton and her allies from standing for election. And the union backed him, saying after the new board sacked him in November that his firing was "extremely disheartening" and "dealt a big blow" to district firefighters and paramedics.

The contract included a base salary of nearly $122,000 in addition to the severance provisions, though Phillips has not been paid the severance, the district said. His lawyers have denied the allegations in court. They did not respond to a request for comment, nor did Phillips.

Conley, the former board member, said Phillips had taken over as chief in June 2022 after the resignation of former Chief Maynard Howell and didn't have a written contract as chiefs in area fire districts often do.

"The contract with Chief Phillips was on advice of our attorney and his to solidify it in writing," Conley said. "It was at his request and our attorney, the district's attorney at the time, agreed that it would be a good idea to have a written contract."

The district's attorney at the time, Charles Billings — who serves as general counsel for the Missouri Association of Career Fire Protection Districts and whose firm represents other area districts — no longer represents Robertson.

Erin Heffernan of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

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