On Monday the city leader’s ill-advised attempt to cut- even further than the bone- yet more firefighters was stopped dead in its tracks.
The Illinois State Legislature formed the East St. Louis Financial Advisory Authority back in 1990 and gave it sweeping powers to oversee spending in the city as it teetered on the verge of bankruptcy.
19 years later, the watchdog group has stepped in and done their job, voting unanimously to reject the layoff plan proposed by Mayor Alvin Parks Jr.
Patrice Rencher, executive director of the advisory authority, told the authority members that the plan "is in breach of the collective bargaining agreement" between the city and its firefighters. The agreement calls for maintaining a force of 58 firefighters, she said.
The F.A.A. went a step further to stymie the effort by the city to tap TIF resources to help rebalance the budget.
The buck has to stop somewhere, but the firefighters in East St. Louis won’t have to endure further cuts.
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