The city of Kettering and its fire department union will go to arbitration to settle on a new contact for the fire captains unit after the city rejected recommendations for contract terms made by an outside party. The arbitration will continue efforts to settle on a new contact that began last November and included an agreement between both sides that was voted down by the union membership. City Manager Mark Schwieterman said that the city and the Kettering Professional firefighters IAFF Local 2150 have engaged in collective bargaining negotiations regarding the captains unit starting in November 2017, and mediation sessions were held in January and February of this year. “We’ve been in union contract negotiations for our next three-year agreement,” Schwieterman said. “The previous three-year agreement ended at the end of 2017. The result of the fact-finding was received late last week.”