A work session meeting in Rhinelander lasted nearly three hours as the city council and employees worked through grievances.
For several employees, Tuesday night's meeting was a long time coming.
Members of the Rhinelander Fire, Police, Street and Water departments showed up in support of their colleagues and to be heard.
"I am absolutely disgusted by our city right now with how our they treat our employees," Fire Department employee, Nathen Bates said. "Our Street Department, Fire Department (and) Police Department it is a constant struggle and some of us are sick and tired of fighting for our jobs around here."
The council work session meeting was called to discuss Human Resource matters including staffing within the Fire Department and compensation/policies for non-union employees.
Those in attendance of the meeting were informed no decisions would be made from the meeting, it was just a chance to talk about matters employees were facing.
City Council Alderperson Tom Barnett speaking for himself and not the council said he witnessed people who were passionate about what they were talking about.
"I believe that these city employees had very valid grievances," Barnett said. "I believe that moving forward we can correct those grievances by just shifting how we do things."
Some of the grievances included the outdated employee handbook and the Fire department's request to re-instate a new Assistant Fire Chief.
"The city, unfortunately, has been living with an outdated handbook since 2016," Rhinelander City Administrator Zach Vruwink said. "When we onboard new hires we talk through the handbook with them, and the changes that have been made through other documents."
The documents Vruwink mentioned are resolutions taken up by the governing council every year. He said the city council passes a resolution every year that goes into greater detail about what benefits are offered for non-union employees.
"I and Alderperson Daniel said why don't we strike out in the handbook what no longer applies or make an addendum to it, that way they know right away," Barnett said.
The Fire Department said they have been working to get their Assistant Fire Chief position filled for months after it was removed in 2021.
Junior Driver Luke Drummond said the work the department does and the services they provide is being impacted without the Assistant Chief position.
"The job of that assistant chief that needs to be done with need someone to oversee our EMS," Drummond said. "We need someone to handle things like billing and grants and right now that is falling on the deputy chiefs when they are supposed to be running the crew."
No decisions were made at the meeting but council members said they care about the concerns employees are having, and want to work towards fixing them.
