Fall River council funds raises for trash and pothole crews and takes $7.4 million for Alden Street, lead pipes and Columbia Street
The Teamsters contract costs the general fund about $244,000 over three years and sets limits on how the city uses GPS in its trucks. The council also asked who should run the senior grocery rides, which a councilor's resolution says are suspended for lack of drivers.
FALL RIVER Fall River's trash, recycling, yard waste and pothole crews will get a 2.5% raise in base pay, a $1,000 check in place of back pay, $1.25 more an hour this year and another 2.5% next year under a contract the City Council funded Tuesday night, Oct. 27, on a 7-1 vote. The same night, councilors accepted $7.4 million in state and federal grants to rebuild Alden Street, replace more lead water lines running into homes and fix up Columbia Street.
The votes settle two items that reached the council earlier this month: the Teamsters contract the mayor signed and the four grants on the Oct. 27 agenda.
What the crews get
The agreement covers members of General Teamsters Local 251 who work for the Department of Community Maintenance: trash collection, patching potholes, yard waste, recycling, heavy item pickup and the mechanics who keep the trucks running. Their last contract ran out June 30, 2025. Mayor Paul E. Coogan and the union signed the new one Oct. 13, and it runs through June 30, 2028.
The first-year raise of 2.5% is not paid back to July 2025. Instead, active members of the unit employed at any point from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026, get a one-time $1,000 check. On July 1, 2026, retroactive to that date, every grade's base rate goes up $1.25 an hour, and operators and the concrete, asphalt and working foreman grades get $1 more, or $2.25 in all. Another 2.5% raise follows July 1, 2027.
The shift differential rises to $1.25 an hour, the uniform allowance goes to $1,000, and workers who take an industry safety and first aid course get a $300 stipend. If another city union wins a bigger general raise in any of the three years, the wage terms can be reopened. When only one truck is needed to salt or sand in winter, two workers are called in.
The city puts the cost to the general fund at $243,732.96 over the three years, including Medicare: $36,522 in fiscal 2026, $149,868.03 in fiscal 2027 and $57,342.93 in fiscal 2028.
Rules for GPS in the trucks
A new section limits how the city uses GPS units in the department's vehicles. They may be used for fleet management and efficiency, worker safety, snow and ice removal and emergencies, and may record location, speed, idling time and length of stops. No other data, including audio, video or communications, may be collected without written notice to the union and bargaining first. The data may not be used to watch break times, meal periods or personal time, may be kept no longer than two years unless needed for an ongoing discipline or safety investigation, and cannot be used for discipline until Jan. 1, 2028. The city and the union are to meet on GPS by July 1, 2027.
How the council voted
Under state law, the mayor has to ask the council for the money to pay a contract's cost items, and if the council turns the request down, those items go back to bargaining. Coogan's Oct. 22 letter made that request. The order passed on a roll call without debate, 7-1, with Councilor Christopher M. Peckham Sr. voting no. Councilor Joseph D. Camara did not answer when his name was called on that vote, or on the roll call that opened the meeting, so eight of the nine councilors voted.
$7.4 million in grants
Councilors accepted four grants on voice votes. The largest, $5 million from the state Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities' HousingWorks Infrastructure Program, pays to rebuild the streets, sidewalks and sewer lines along Alden Street, with the work to be done by June 30, 2029.
A $1,092,000 congressionally directed grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency keeps the city's lead service line program going. The program replaces the lines that carry drinking water into homes, to cut lead exposure. A $1.3 million congressionally directed grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development covers streets, sidewalks and an underused parklet on Columbia Street, part of the city's push to revive the Waterfront Cultural District. Both run through Oct. 1, 2027. The fourth, $4,500 from the Bristol County District Attorney's Office, pays for search and rescue training for Scout, the Fall River Emergency Medical Services comfort dog.
Senior grocery rides
Councilors also voted 7-1 on a roll call, with eight answering and Councilor Linda M. Pereira voting no, to have the Committee on Ordinances and Legislation meet with the city administrator and the directors of human resources, health and human services, financial services and veteran services about where the grocery ride program for seniors belongs. The resolution, filed by Councilor Andrew J. Raposo, says the rides "have been temporarily suspended due to lack of drivers," that the program is run by the Office of Veterans' Services and should be under Health and Human Services, and that vehicles meant for veterans have been used for other purposes.
What happens next
Coogan has called a joint meeting of the council and the School Committee for Tuesday, Dec. 8, at 5:30 p.m., when Superintendent Kathleen Smith is to give the first "State of the Schools" address; councilors placed his letter on file. A proposed ordinance moving the mayor's chief of staff onto the salary schedule for political appointments went to the Committee on Ordinances and Legislation.
The same night, the council voted to cover a $3.1 million snow and ice deficit from savings and heard the administration's case on the Pearl Street garage.
How to weigh in
The council meets in the council chamber at One Government Center, and its meetings air on Fall River Government Television. The City Council office is at 508-324-2233.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
Notes
The contract terms, costs, GPS rules, grant amounts and end dates, and the grocery ride resolution come from the council's Oct. 27 agenda packet. The votes come from the Fall River Government Television video of the meeting, checked roll call by roll call against its audio. We recomputed the contract cost and the grant total and checked each date and weekday against a calendar.
Corrections
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Sources (4)
- City of Fall River: City Council agenda packet, Oct. 27, 2026 (Teamsters Local 251 memorandum of agreement and fiscal impact statement, grant orders, resolutions)Clerk's stamp Oct. 23, 2026, 1:21 p.m. Read Oct. 29, 2026.
- Fall River Government Television: Fall River City Council, Oct. 27, 2026 (video)Votes at 2:58:43 to 3:07:50. Read Oct. 29, 2026.
- City of Fall River: City Council membersRead Oct. 29, 2026.
- Massachusetts General Laws, chapter 150E, section 7 (funding of collective bargaining agreements)Read Oct. 29, 2026.