After five years, city hall has apparently dropped its demand that it control how many firefighters are on duty in Watertown at any one time.
The city has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in an unsuccessful attempt to get rid of a minimum staffing agreement between the city and its firefighters union. That agreement requires 15 firefighters to be on duty at all times.
But the city has operated under a rule in which the fire department can have fewer than 15 firefighters on duty, if someone calls in sick or absent.
That rule has now been rescinded, according to Dan Daugherty, head of the firefighters union. Daugherty said it was rescinded last week.
If so, that would mean the city is apparently ending its effort to reduce the number of firefighters on duty to fewer than 15.