Union wants to recall Lackawanna mayor

LACKAWANNA, N.Y. (WIVB) - Things are heating up over the closing of a fire hall in Lackawanna. This comes after the mayor announced that in less than one month, firefighters racked up more than 800 hours of overtime the city can’t afford.

A Lackawanna fire union official says they’re working to recall Mayor Greoffrey Szymanski. He says they believe Szymanski is out of touch, that’s why they’ve contacted a lawyer and city officials to start the recall process.

Fire House 2 was closed down after the mayor discovered 856 hours of overtime over the last two-week pay period. He says until shifts can be covered without requiring overtime, it will remain closed.

The union official says the mayor made the decision on a whim and is putting response time in jeopardy.

Lackawanna Fire Union Officials Gary Strelczyk said, “We are just in the investigation stage. We have no confidence in the mayor's decision making. He has made rash decisions without any thought, without any planning, he is going against what the fire chief is recommending, he is going against what the union is recommending.”

Mayor Szymanski said, “It is summertime so people do like to call off with Labor Day of course. However when everyone calls in, when we have captains coming in and working dispatch at captain’s pay at time and half there's something irregular going on.”

The union representative says that the day they decided to close the fire hall down, no one had called out sick. He says it’s a matter of being short staffed. They don’t have enough people to cover when the firefighters take vacation, adding that firefighters are retiring and they haven’t yet placed the man power or increased the budget for overtime. He’s expecting the earlier Fire Hall 2 could open in Tuesday.