ROSEVILLE (CBS13) — A new Roseville Galleria billboard has become a new focal point for firefighter negotiations with the city.

The billboard is up near where the mall burned in a massive arson several years ago. The message lights up over one of the Galleria’s main entrances.

“Is the safety of our community worth 50 cents an hour?” said firefighters union president Jamie Pepin. “We’ve had positive response. We’ve shared it on our Facebook page and we’ve had lots of people respond with words of encouragement.”

The billboard is part of a new public relations attempt to shame a city whose firefighters have been without a contract all year.

“The Roseville Galleria a unique place, as everyone knows we had a large fire here,” Pepin said.

The mall was the target of an arson fire five years ago where part of the roof collapsed. No one was hurt, but the fire caused an estimated $55 million in damage.

“To us, this is a place where we demonstrated our value to the community, and so it made sense for us to put the billboard up here, so that people would know what this city’s up to,” Pepin said.

Along with the billboard, firefighters held a rally outside of city hall and packed council chambers with advocates wearing matching T-shirts, testifying in favor of a new contract.

City leaders declined on-camera interviews, instead releasing a statement reading, “The issues we are discussing with the union are more complicated than simple compensation. The City remains focused on resolving these issues through the negotiation process.”