OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen Silver Creek Trustee Jeff Hornburg, the former Mayor, voted against a resolution to approve a tentative settlement agreement with the CSEA Local Unit 6315.

SILVER CREEK — One word caused quite the dilemma at a recent Silver Creek Village Board meeting. That word: tentative.

The Board was presented with what was titled the “Tentative Settlement Agreement” between the Village of Silver Creek and the CSEA Local Unit 6315. Negotiations between the Village and the CSEA have been ongoing for several months, and at a previous Village Board meeting, Mayor Kathy Tampio and Trustee Jeff Hornburg, the former Mayor, expressed optimism that the contract would be finalized soon.

But when it came time for the resolution, the members of the Village Board were uneasy with the wording of the resolution, specifically the word “tentative”, because they did not feel comfortable with the ambiguity of what could come next.

More than 17 minutes of debate surrounded the topic. It began with Hornburg asking, “How can we approve a tentative settlement?”

Hornburg and Tampio negotiated the terms of the agreement on behalf of the village, with union representatives negotiating on behalf of the CSEA members. Hornburg stated he approves of the terms they negotiated, but the idea of approving something that is tentative, rather than finalized, made him uneasy.

Tampio responded by stating that the union members planned to vote on whether to ratify the agreement shortly after the Village Board’s approval. If both sides voted in approval of the tentative settlement agreement, the contract would then be finalized and presented to the Village Board for official approval.

Hornburg cited his history of negotiating union contracts on behalf of the village, and he said he did not remember ever approving an agreement that was not a finalized contract. He asked, “What if we approve a tentative settlement, and there’s something tentative that they don’t like?”

Village Clerk Tom Postle urged Hornburg to ask the union representatives for clarification. He stated that the agreement before the Board at the meeting was what was negotiated by Tampio and Hornburg with the union representatives. The additional step of a tentative agreement prior to a finalized contract is new to this year’s negotiations.

“The word tentative has got me. To me, that means it’s not fully worked out,” Trustee Sandra Lindstrom said.

Trustee Dwayne Haskins stated that because what they were voting on was not a final contract, and it would come before the Board again, he would make a motion to approve the tentative settlement agreement. No other member of the Board supported the motion.

Postle, acknowledging that he is not a Board member, addressed the Board on the matter.

“I’m thinking what they are going to think, by you doing this, is that you want to go back and negotiate more. If you’re done negotiating, they want you to say, ‘Okay, we’re done negotiating.’ … This ‘tentative’ is them saying, ‘This is what we negotiated. Are you done, or are you going to come back with more?’,” Postle said.

Haskins responded, “It will come back right to us.” He then made a new motion to approve the negotiated terms of the tentative agreement between the Village of Silver Creek and the CSEA Local Unit No. 6315 as they were presented at the meeting.

Lindstrom said she was “on the fence” because of “semantics”, but voted yes. Haskins voted yes, and Hornburg voted no. With Hornburg’s vote in opposition and Trustee Bill Barnes absent, Tampio’s vote decided the matter. She voted in favor of the agreement, but had she not, it would not have passed.

The next Silver Creek Village Board meeting will be on Monday, July 20 at 7 p.m.