The city’s Board of Works gave the okay to a contract between the fire department and Honda while also agreeing to eventually offer conditional employment to six new firefighters at a special meeting Tuesday evening.

The board approved the agreement that will hire the additional firemen in order to fully staff the new Honda plant 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The agreement allows the Greensburg Fire Department to support Honda’s safety needs while simultaneously strengthening resources available for the community, according to Andrew Stoner, director of corporate affairs for Honda.

Honda will compensate the city of Greensburg for the cost of the six new employees, he said.

The city will provide uniforms and equipment, including self-contained breathing apparatus, radios for those firefighters assigned to the Honda plant. Honda itself will provide the office space and 24-hour living quarters, a hazardous materials response cart, and a mini-pump fire truck.

According to Greensburg Fire Chief Scott Chasteen, the jobs at the Honda plant would be similar to fire department jobs, while at the same time being very different.

“And we’re not going to force anybody to do this,” he said. “You have the mayor’s word and you have my word.”

Board member Bill Wenning wanted to make sure that the contract, or a possible resolution, would stipulate that current firefighters could chose whether or not they wanted to work at Honda.

Mayor Gary Herbert disagreed with Wenning.

“I will sign this, and I will put it in the policy, but I will not put it in the contract,” he said.

Wenning retorted that he still wanted the stipulation stated clearly.

“I want it in black and white,” Wenning said. “I want to make sure this sticks.”

Herbert felt Wenning was moving the issue into the territory of the unecessary. When he asked the handful of firefighters present at the meeting what they thought, those who responded said they were worried about creating negativity. Most of them, however, chose not to speak up because they felt it would not the change the issue. However, Herbert wouldn’t accept that answer.

“Is it necessary to make this a law, or are you willing to take our word for it and have it admitted into the policy?” he asked the firefighters. “Is the policy good enough or do we need to make it a law?”

The firefighters admitted that they would feel more comfortable with the resolution passed.

“If it needs to be a law, it will be a law,” Herbert said.