The Cedar Falls firefighters' union is taking their battle against the city to court.
The latest in an on-going controversy over the public safety officers program, that trains police to be firefighters, is the promotion of nine of those dual-trained members to high-ranking positions in the fire department.
In early June, the Cedar Falls city council approved the nine promotions; they were set to happen June 29th. But the day before, the firefighters union petitioned Iowa district court in Black Hawk County to stop them. That petition, made public Tuesday, outlines the union's belief that the promotions are illegal and a safety risk.
The petition shows all personnel promoted were PSO's and that all professional fire department candidates were "eliminated immediately after submitting their applications."
The union says the PSO's worked 16 hours every month in the fire department, but that only included four hours of training and no full fire-fighting or life-saving work.