NORMAL - After more than a year of negotiations, the town and its firefighters have reached a tentative four-year contract.

Firefighters ratified the pact on Feb. 25. It will be among the items the City Council will consider at its meeting tonight (Monday).

Other agenda items include purchasing a "pass through" system for the College Avenue uptown parking deck and listening to a presentation by JSM Development, a Champaign firm who that extended an offer to purchase University Christian Church, 206 North St.

The town's previous contract with International Association of Firefighters Local 2442 expired on March 31, 2007. The new pact gives a 2 percent hike in the base wages on April 1 and Oct. 1, 2007, and 2008, then a 3.5 percent increase on April 1, 2009, and 2010.

Beginning this March 1, half of the base wage will be deposited into a retirement health savings account.

The contract also includes details on the sick leave buyback guidelines - a sticking point in negotiations that nearly resulted in a binding agreement rather than a voluntary one.

In a report to the council, Assistant City Manager Pamela Reece said the two sides had a hearing with an arbitrator in October. The arbitrator was ready to make a ruling - which would have been binding for both sides - on Jan. 28 but suggested the union and town try again to reach a voluntary settlement.

The town and union met on Feb. 5 and finally reached a voluntary agreement. The town and its firefighters have always reached a voluntary agreement, Reece said.

Other terms include adding Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a holiday; eliminating the town's contribution toward retiree insurance premiums for employees hired on or after April 1, 1998; and adding a town match to the voluntary deferred compensation plan.

The council previously made the same insurance and deferred compensation changes for its non-union employees.

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GO!

What: Normal City Council

When: 7 p.m. today (Monday)

Where: City Hall, 100 E. Phoenix