The Warwick City Council voted Monday night to deny a budgetary request from the Warwick Fire Department seeking $120,000 for unspecified medical evaluations with the reasoning that the city has been paying for the evaluations unnecessarily since the 2012-15 collective bargaining agreement was struck.
Finance committee chairman and Ward 5 Councilman Ed Ladouceur said that the issue had caused the council much concern, leading them to consult with their legal counsel about the change in contractual language that occurred during the 2012-15 negotiation.
This change, as previously reported in the Beacon, regarded firefighters 45 years or older being able to request a yearly physical – which included an electrocardiogram, chest x-ray, complete blood count and urinalysis, as well as a treadmill stress test – at the expense of the city. The contractual change in the 2012-15 contract explicitly removed the city’s responsibility to pay for these tests, as they would presumably be covered by the firefighter’s health insurance plan through the city.