More than a month of waiting may soon be over for unionized city employees awaiting new contracts.

A contract with one union already is set in stone. And members of two other unions will vote this week on tentative agreements, marking the beginning of the end for an unusually busy negotiating season involving all the city’s unions.

But the largest of the four unions has yet to reach an agreement with the city, and questions still remain about how newly unionized workers will be represented.

Evanston firefighters were the first workers to negotiate an agreement, said Steve Perrino, outgoing president of International Association of Fire Fighters Local 742. Perrino decided to retire this year after six years as union president. His vice president, Jeff McDermott, was elected to the position unopposed.

The firefighters’ contract, approved by Evanston City Council March 24, provides them with a 3.75 percent annual raise. The contract is renegotiated every two years.

Evanston’s 2003-04 budget only allocates 2 percent for raises, which union negotiators have called unacceptable. The city’s finance director, Bill Stafford, said the council will consider how to pay for the contracts when they have all been approved.

Firefighters also will get a slight increase in health-care benefits and an extra day of vacation time after they spend 15 years with the department, Perrino said. In exchange for the extra vacation time, the firefighters will pay more toward their insurance.

The union reached a good contract considering the state of the economy and Evanston’s tight budget, Perrino said.

“We did well, considering the times that we’re in,” he said. “We’re happy with it.”

Members of the city’s largest union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, still are waiting for negotiations to conclude.

Ray Summers, president of the federation’s Local 1891, said negotiations cannot proceed until the city provides the union with more information on employees who recently voted to unionize. Summers said he needs to know the new workers’ classification, pay scale and other details. The workers may join Local 1891 or form their own local union, but Summers said the information is essential in any case.

“It’s difficult to proceed without accurate information,” Summers said.

The 216 new workers will vote on whether to join Local 1891 at a future, unspecified date.

Maureen Barry, assistant to the city manager, said the city will have the information ready for the next negotiating session. The city and the union have yet to agree on a date, she said.

Negotiations with the city’s two police unions have resulted in tentative agreements, which their members will vote on this week. Any contracts must be approved by workers before going to City Council. The details of the agreements could not be revealed beforehand.

Police sergeants will vote on a tentative agreement today, said Barb Kraft, who represented the Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council in negotiations with the city. Kraft said she expected the council to vote on the contract within a month.

Mick Vendafreddo negotiated for Teamsters Local 714, which represents Evanston police officers. The officers will vote on a tentative agreement this weekend, he said.

Vendafreddo said both the city and the union did a good job of negotiating the contract, and he recommends that the officers accept it.

Negotiating with all four unions and the new municipal federation members kept city staff very busy, Barry said, but there were also advantages.

“It was definitely a big work load for … staff to have to do all four contracts at once,” he said. “Other than that, it’s useful from a budgetary stance to compare the contracts all at one time.”