The Emmaus Borough Council decided at the March 20 meeting to take their 3 1/2 year legal battle with the Emmaus Firefighters Association to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Council made a unanimous decision to “allow the solicitor to file a petition for allowance of appeal of the commonwealth court decision in the PLRV [Pennsylvania Labor Court Relations Board] case to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.”

This action is coming after the Commonwealth Court ruled 4-3 March 13 to allow three dozen firefighters to form the Emmaus Professional Firefighters Association and join the International Association of Fire Fighters. This decision stems back to an order by the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board in 2014 that authorized the borough’s firefighters to form a union, as well as negotiate contracts with the borough.

The reason this came about was because the borough and their paid firefighters have a unique relationship. The borough pays the firefighters hourly wages, in addition to controlling their work schedules, hiring and disciplines. Due to these reasons, the firefighters are considered borough employees and are eligible to unionize under Act 111, which is the state law that governs collective bargaining by police and firefighters.

Council argued the state statutes require council to make sure fire services are provided within the borough “by the means and to the extent determined by the borough.” This includes financial and administrative assistance.

Over a year ago, the union presented council with an initial proposal which included a contract that could cost more than $2 million annually. In comparison, Emmaus budgeted about $202,000 for firefighter wages last year.

Following the meeting, the Emmaus Professional Firefighters Association said they are “disappointed with the decision” and released the following statement: “They have exercised their right with legally being able to appeal, but we strongly believe they are being misguided by their legal team. At this point it appears our council is focusing on the fiscal aspects, which we have yet to formally discuss, more so than that of the public safety to the residents of the Borough of Emmaus. The firefighters will continue to do everything we can within our power to proudly serve and protect our citizens while the Supreme Court examines this case further.”

In other business, council made decisions on two different bids, the first being the 2017 curb and concrete contractor bid. Zgura Concrete, of Emmaus, had the lowest bid of $89,105.

The second bid was for purchasing the concrete for the 10th Street culvert replacement project. Borough Manager Shane Pepe said the only company they could find in Pennsylvania that did that specific concrete work was Contech Engineered Solutions. The total cost will be $198,400 and will include precast concrete footings, arch culvert, headwalls, wing walls and accessories.