![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_DCMHalman_PolkCountyIAFFPresident_CollectiveBargainingAgreement_7-8-25.webp?resize=1024%2C538&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThe new agreement includes significant improvements to employee compensation and scheduling, including introducing a 24-hour \u201cKelly Day\u201d every seventh shift as part of a 21-day cycle. The Kelly Day schedule is expected to be implemented by Oct. 12, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOther agencies have successfully implemented Kelly Days into their staffing plans,\u201d said Deputy County Manager Joe Halman. \u201cThe introduction of Kelly Days will help reduce fatigue, support mental health and improve work-life balance while maintaining full pay. Combined with competitive compensation, these improvements ensure Polk County remains a strong and reliable provider of emergency services.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Polk County Fire Rescue, a Kelly Day is a paid 24-hour shift off every three weeks for bargaining unit members. Kelly Days do not affect a bargaining unit member\u2019s annual salary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The contract also includes a 2% cost-of-living adjustment plus a 4.1% pay raise for the first and third years of the contract and bargaining unit members will receive a 4.1% pay raise in the second year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2025-2028 collective bargaining agreement is the result of successful negotiations between Polk County Government administrators and the I.A.F.F. bargaining units. It reflects the county\u2019s continued commitment to strengthening public safety services and supporting the personnel who provide them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Polk County Board of County Commissioners approved a new three-year collective bargaining agreement with the Polk County Professional Firefighters I.A.F.F., Local 3531. The agreement, which covers bargaining units for entry-level… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56666,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"14","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNVwvMDdcL0lNR19EQ01IYWxtYW5fUG9sa0NvdW50eUlBRkZQcmVzaWRlbnRfQ29sbGVjdGl2ZUJhcmdhaW5pbmdBZ3JlZW1lbnRfNy04LTI1LndlYnA_Zml0PTEwMjQlMkM1Mzgmc3NsPTEiLCJ0eHQiOiJQb2xrIENvdW50eSBBcHByb3ZlcyBOZXcgVGhyZWUtWWVhciBBZ3JlZW1lbnQgd2l0aCBGaXJlZmlnaHRlcnMgVW5pb24iLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImhpZ2h3YXkiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.mEpga16PENweWAPTij8QyqgVOgF7-2NwqeP_POlaH9oMQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":56666,"url":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_DCMHalman_PolkCountyIAFFPresident_CollectiveBargainingAgreement_7-8-25.webp","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[11790],"class_list":["post-56665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-polk-county-approves-new-three-year-agreement-with-firefighters-union"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56665"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56667,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56665\/revisions\/56667"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}