Warren mayor pushes for wider drug testing
Mayor Jim Fouts pledged Thursday to make Warren the first major city in the state to have random drug and alcohol tests among all of its employees.
The first-term mayor said he would not approve any union contracts without employees agreeing to random Breathalyzers and urine tests in an effort to set an example in a city with an apparent surge in drug and alcohol use in children and adults.
His declaration came a day after he and 10 of his appointees were chosen at random for drug and alcohol tests for the first time under a policy he initiated earlier this year. The alcohol tests were all negative. Results for drug use were still pending. All of Fouts’ roughly 50 appointees, including the police commissioner and public service director, are subject to random tests.
Any staff members found with drugs or alcohol in their systems will be fired immediately, Fouts said.
But the rest of the city’s nearly 800 employees, including police officers and firefighters, cannot be forced to submit to random testing unless they agree to it in their labor contracts.
"I will not tolerate anyone being under the influence of drugs or alcohol," Fouts said. "We have to let young people know that we hold a high standard that drugs won’t be tolerated."
Whether Fouts can persuade unions to agree to random testing remains to be seen.
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