ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — After Gov. Ron DeSantis’ hand-picked board took over Walt Disney World’s governing district earlier this year, firefighters at the theme park were among the few employees who publicly welcomed them.

But now a new district administrator has reopened negotiations on a contract approved last month by the unionized firefighters that promised substantial pay raises and more personnel.

Board spokesperson Alexei Woltornist said negotiations with the union were continuing, without explaining why they were reopened with a contract already approved by the firefighters and first responders.

“Administrator [Glenton] Gilzean is actively working with the fire department to finalize a deal that offers a competitive compensation package and gives firefighters the resources they need to protect the public,” Woltornist said in an email.

Officials with the firefighters’ union did not comment.

A vote on the contract originally was targeted for last month during a meeting of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board of supervisors. But it was never brought up, and it did not appear on an agenda released for the next meeting scheduled for Wednesday.

Under the three-year contract proposal overwhelmingly approved by 200 firefighters and first responders, annual starting pay for firefighters would increase to $65,000, up from $55,000. It also promised the hiring of up to three dozen firefighters and paramedics.

At several meetings since the DeSantis-appointed supervisors took their seats this spring, Jon Shirey, who leads the firefighters’ union, praised them for visiting firefighters at their stations around the 39-square-mile Disney World property.

The firefighters looked forward to collaborating with the new supervisors and administrator after years of clashing with their Disney-supporting predecessors, and viewed the appointments as “an opportunity for a fresh start,” he said.

“Almost overnight, a change occurred that we have never experienced — transparency, open dialogue, the ability to sit down and have our issues heard and felt listened to,” Shirey told board members last month. “You have been able to build bridges that were long burned.”

The old contract expired four years ago, and the firefighters declared an impasse last year when the district’s board was still controlled by Disney supporters. The Reedy Creek Professional Firefighters, Local 2117 have warned for years that they are understaffed, which poses a safety risk as the central Florida theme park resort grows bigger.

Last month, District Administrator John Classe, who originally negotiated the new contract, was replaced by the board with Gilzean, a DeSantis ally who previously served as president and CEO of the Central Florida Urban League and will receive a $400,000 salary in his new job.

While Gilzean may alienate the firefighters, he may gain credibility with other constituencies within Disney’s governing district and put some distance between himself and his predecessor, said Richard Foglesong, a Rollins College professor emeritus who wrote a definitive account of Disney World’s governance in his book, “Married to the Mouse: Walt Disney World and Orlando.”

“He’s an unproven administrator, yet here he’s showing he’s no pushover when dealing with a cantankerous group, which frankly impresses me,” Foglesong said.

The DeSantis appointees took over the Disney World governing board earlier this year following a yearlong feud between the company and DeSantis. The fight began last year after Disney publicly opposed a state law banning classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades, a policy critics call “Don’t Say Gay.”

DeSantis took over the district through legislation passed by Florida lawmakers and appointed a new board of supervisors to oversee municipal services for the sprawling theme parks and hotels. But before the new board came in, the company made agreements with previous oversight board members that stripped the new supervisors of their authority over design and construction.

Disney sued DeSantis and the five-member board, asking a federal judge to void the governor’s takeover of the theme park district, as well as the oversight board’s actions, on the grounds they were violations of the company’s free speech rights.

The board sued Disney in state court in an effort to maintain its control.