BY JIMMY LAWTONNorth Country This Week

OGDENSBURG -- Ogdensburg's fire department added six new members including the first woman to ever serve in Ogdensburg.

At a ceremony in city hall Tuesday Jan. 24, the six new members took their oaths and Chief Kenneth Stull spoke briefly to mark the historic occasion.

"I would like to give a special thanks to the mayor and council for supporting the budget resolution that made today possible," he said.

Stull said the new recruits would bring relief to a department that faced adversity in recent years.

"The addition of the six new firefighters will greatly increase our firefighters’ health and safety and reduce the cost for us to continue providing the excellent service to the community, which they deserve, Stull stated."

On Monday council also acknowledged that Brittaney Bertrand would be the first woman to serve as an Ogdensburg firefighter.

"Today is a historic day for the Ogdensburg Fire Department," Stull said. "To the best of my knowledge, we’ve never hired six firefighters at once. Also today I know for a fact that we have never had an appointment for the first female firefighter for the city of Ogdensburg. That needs to be commended," he said.

Several Ogdensburg firefighters attended the event along with Rescue Squad Chief Ken Gardner and Ogdensburg Police Chief Mark Kearns.

The new members of the department include Mark Barr, Brittaney Bertrand, Luc LaFlair, Cole Piercey, Chad Lacey and Joshua Miller.

All six will be attending a 18 week academy at the City of Watertown Fire Department in conjunction with Jefferson Community College, City of Ogdensburg Fire Department and Fort Drum Fire Department, where they will obtain their 229 hours of firefighter training, according to officials.

Their training will include national certification in both Firefighter 1 and Firefighter 2 as well as Basic Life Saving emergency medical technician.

"We are more than excited to have our newest brothers and sister join our ranks and we wish them all the best of luck as they enter the Fire academy, and as they progress throughout their careers," union members said in a public statement.

The move opens a new chapter and marks the end of a long feud between city council and the fire union which were entangled in legal battles over the past several years.

In the end the legal endeavors cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and judgements, which led to massive payouts after an arbitrator ruled that the city had failed to fulfill the agreed upon contracts.

In November twenty-three firefighters, some former and some current, received an average payment of $23,681.22 in back pay from the city following an arbitration award and interest following an Oct. 16 order from Judge Mary Farley.

The order stemmed from a lengthy court battle that cost the city nearly $100,000 in legal fees and ended in arbitration in favor of the union.

City officials said they had willfully violated the contract with Local 1799 on grounds that the contract was invalid as it was built on job security rather than public safety.

The union disagreed, and in the end so did the judge.

The city was ordered to pay $519,680.68 stemming from more than 10,510 hours denied under the union’s six-year contract that began Jan. 1, 2020 and continues to Dec. 31, 2025.

However, the city attempted to make the payment to the union's law firm rather than to the firefighters and that led to a claim by the union that, due to the delays, they were owed additional money.

Farley agreed and ordered a new award, which added nearly $30,000 in interest payments, bringing the new total to $544,668.07 to be paid directly to the 23 firefighters impacted by the action.

Sixteen of the awards totaled $30,927.73 apiece. Two firefighters received payments of roughly $18,000. Two firefighters received payments of roughly $5,000 and one firefighter received a payment for roughly $2,400. Finally, two payments totaling less than $600 went to two former firefighters.