Wichita Falls Firefighters get Props 1 and 2 passed

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) - The people of Wichita Falls made their voices heard as they voted to pass propositions 1 and 2 on Nov. 6. Both propositions passed with over 75 percent of voters in favor of the measures.

Proposition 1 gives firefighters the ability to sit down with the city to discuss wages, working conditions and other items. Al Vitolo, President of the Wichita Falls Professional Firefighters Association (WFPFA), has been an advocate for the firefighters being able to collectively bargain for many years.

"For my entire public career [I have} fought for the same things we are fighting for now. The same things we are asking for through collective bargaining, we've done 15 to 20 years. This gives us an opportunity to take a new path, a fair path, to simple, reasonable, responsible solutions to keep the best firefighters and have the best fire department in Wichita Falls," Vitolo said.

Proposition 2 allows the WFPFA and the city to enter arbitration if they are unable to come to an agreement on an issue with the city. Vitolo says it should never come to that, but in the event it does, he laid out why its needed.

"I think arbitration does two things. One it avoids all these high legal bills and years of court battles because trained neutral arbitrators come and say 'this is a fair solution.' On top of that we don't want to do it. We just want to solve the problem, find common sense, reasonable, responsible solutions to the issues of this fire department and public safety of Wichita Falls in general has had for decades," Vitolo said.