Chief gets contract

The Anderson Fire Protection District Board approved a three-year contract with Fire Chief Andy Nichols at the board's regular meeting Nov. 10.

"It's a very fair contract for the district," fire board chairman Keith Webster said.

Nichols agreed that the contract was fair for himself as well, adding that his pay raise to become fire chief was three percent of his previous pay rate as deputy chief. Nichols will receive $71,268 plus benefits, according to Nichols' employment agreement with the fire district.

By Oct. 16, 2010 Nichols will receive a pay raise to $74,832 per year, and in 2011, his salary will increase to $78,564, the agreement states.

Nichols' predecessor as the district's fire chief, Joe Piccinini, made an annual salary of about $83,000 in his last year, Webster said previously.

The district board also approved a memorandum with the firefighter's union, Local 137 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The new contract includes random drug screening for all employees, as well as physicals and drug screenings upon hiring a new employee.

Both the chief's and the union employees' contracts contain and continue the lifetime medical benefits to retirees of the fire district. While the practice is standard in the public safety industry, it is a practice that is expensive and "shouldn't be maintained," according to Webster.

Current members of the fire district maintain those benefits, but Webster said the new fire board to take their seats at the next district meeting on Dec. 4 will decide whether to maintain those benefits for the three new firefighters the district seeks.