Danville City Council chambers were packed last night with firefighters over the issue of pay. Ahead of the meeting an agenda item was removed that would have raised the pay of three city employees including City Manager Ken Larking, according to councilman Lee Vogler.

“The city manager believes as does city council that we need to treat all of our employees with dignity and fairness,” said Vogler, “we believe with that in mind it would not be fair to increase the salaries of a few employees tonight while asking our other employees to wait.”

A recent study revealed that the starting pay for firefighters is almost 20 percent below the market average. Firefighters and city employees received a raise to start the new year to account for the increase in minimum wage. The city manager also noted they hope to add another $1,000 increase to pay. Larking also said that other jobs in the city are underpaid and need to be addressed.

“The city study shows that there are several positions in the city that are below the market average for pay and for the minimum. The issue is not unique to the fire department, which is why I do not recommend that we single out the fire department for an adjustment. To do so would cause morale issues throughout the organization,” said Larking.

Fire Captain Travis Poteat addressed the council and touched on one of the big issues the department is currently facing is keeping younger firefighters.

“These are the ones that we’re losing, because a young person that’s 25-years-old, they don’t care about benefits. They’re thinking that they can get in their car and drive an hour down the road and make $10,000 more a year,” said Poteat.

The city council noted they are waiting on the results of another pay study. Fire Captain Tom Collins noted that a study has already been done, so doing another seems like a waste of money.

“Why would the members trust this council when they say they are going to do another pay study and fix it? We’ve done a pay study and we did not fix it. I believe it’s a question as to why a pay study was done, why money was spent, if there was no intent to act on the pay study. This seems like a waste of money,” said Collins.

Mayor Alonzo Jones then addressed the firefighters in attendance and attempted to reassure that the pay issue will be addressed.

“You are not our enemy, we aren’t yours and we’re proving it to you,” said Jones, “we’re working tirelessly and we’re working hard to get you and all of our other employees exactly what they deserve.”