Lightfoot vows to confront city government’s sacred cows — such as three employees per garbage truck

Mayor Lori Lightfoot vowed Thursday to confront two sacred cows of city government: three employees per garbage truck and minimum staffing rules for Chicago Fire Department equipment.

That CFD staffing minimum triggered the bitter 1980 firefighters strike.

Jim Tracy, president of the Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2, could not be reached for comment Thursday. But he has previously acknowledged he and Lightfoot are “miles apart” on a long-term contract — and he’s made a strong case for maintaining the minimum staffing rule that requires at least five employees for every piece of fire apparatus.

“It can’t be done by two or three people. It has to be by five persons, period. We cannot do our job without it,” Tracy said last month.

Lightfoot strongly disagreed.

She argued Chicago taxpayers facing a $94 million property tax increase next year followed by annual increases tied to the inflation rate can no longer afford to carry excess costs that can only be characterized as feather-bedding.

“We need to address the minimum-manning issue. That will be part of the discussion in the next round of negotiations. … We’ve had very candid conversations [with] Local 2. … They understand that this is an issue that we must take on,” the mayor told the Sun-Times Thursday.

“I don’t like taking the path of least resistance on any issue. And I’m not afraid of being bold and challenging us to get out of our comfort zone. All of us. Me included. And so, we are going to be looking at ways in which we can make city government a government we can all be proud of that works for our modern time.”

The same goes for the size of city refuse collection crews. It’s still three employees on a garbage truck — at least until those collective bargaining agreements expire in 2022.

“I’m well aware of what other localities in the area and across the country have done. The place that I go to every year for our summer vacation, there’s one guy in a truck. You’ve got a truck that has two different pods to it. You’ve got an electronic arm that reaches out, takes the garbage, puts it in the garbage area, takes the recycling, puts it in the recycling area. One person staffs that truck,” she said.

“We’ve got to look realistically about what makes sense for Chicago. But that is something that we will definitely be taking a look at. We’re living in a world where there can’t be sacred cows. … We’ve got to think creatively and boldly about how it is that we continue to deliver services to our residents, but do it in a way that is fiscally responsible and takes advantage of a lot of different efficiencies.”

Steve Marcucci, vice-president of Laborers Local 1001, argued that cutting the size of city garbage crews is not realistic in a dense city of alleys loaded with overflowing garbage cans that breed a healthy rat population.

“Tell her to call everybody in Chicago and tell `em they can only have one garbage can. In the suburbs, everybody just has one garbage can. In Chicago, they’ve got three, two. People can’t live with one garbage can in the city of Chicago,” Marcucci said.

“Drive through the alleys. Then, you let me know if you think residents of the city of Chicago can live with one garbage can. They fill five of `em up. Come on.”

What if the city bought new and bigger garbage carts and gave every household just one?

“Then, you’ve got to get different trucks. The city don’t have money now. You want ‘em to go buy a fleet of trucks?” Marcucci said.

“It’s a terrible idea. I’ve been in the city all my life. It ain’t never gonna happen.”

Lightfoot’s decision to confront the thorny issue of Fire Department staffing levels and reconcile the number of firehouses in Chicago with a decline in fires and a surge in ambulance calls comes at a pivotal time.

Chicago Fire Commissioner Richard C. Ford II is just months away from the mandatory retirement age of 63, forcing Lightfoot to launch a search for his replacement.

With negotiations almost certain to turn contentious with a union that gave Lightfoot a pivotal endorsement during the mayoral run-off, the mayor may want to choose a replacement from outside the department, as she did in CPD Supt. David Brown.

On Thursday, Lightfoot refused to tip her hand, saying only that she was “very well aware” of Ford’s April mandatory retirement date and plans a “smooth transition” to a replacement “worthy of leading one of the best fire departments in the country.”