11-6-2014 Please share News Update November 5, 2014 News and commentary impacting police, deputies, corrections, fire, emergency services and public employees throughout the United States. I have provided a synopsis with key points highlighted. In some articles I have added commentary. You can access the full article by clicking on the link. I am posting daily police, fire and public employee labor news on Twitter @RonDeLord PLEASE CIRCULATE THE BLOG TO LABOR & MANAGEMENT Synopsis of the News --- Phoenix voters defeat initiative to move pension fund participants to 401(k) plan Voters in Phoenix on Tuesday rejected an initiative that would have closed the $2.2 billion Phoenix City Employees’ Retirement System and created a new 401(k) plan for city employees. Pension reform measures could lead to new investments at Phoenix City Employees The initiative, called Proposition 487, was successfully brought to ballot by a petition in March by Citizens for Public Reform. Voters on Tuesday voted against the initiative 56.5% to 43.5%. Proponents of the initiative pointed to the pension plan’s funding ratio as a reason to switch to a 401(k) plan. The funding ratio was 64.2% as of June 30, 2013, according to the pension fund’s most recent comprehensive annual financial report. “Now that it’s failed, obviously we respect the will of our voters. We were not involved in the writing of this document,” Rick Naimark, Phoenix deputy city manager, said. “There were substantial legal questions about some of it and so now we’ll move on with the system we have.” pionline/article/20141105/ONLINE/141109933/phoenix-voters-defeat-initiative-to-move-pension-fund-participants-to-401k-plan?newsletter=daily&issue=20141105&utm_source=Newsletters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=P%26I%20Daily%20Plan%20Sponsor Read more. --- Anchorage voters favor unions in repealing Mayor Sullivans labor law rewrite Anchorage voters soundly rejected Ballot Measure 1 in Tuesday’s election, in effect repealing the Sullivan administration’s rewrite of city labor law and handing a triumph to labor unions that have spent nearly two years bitterly fighting the measure. With all precincts reporting early Wednesday morning, the vote was 54 percent to 46 percent in favor of repealing Anchorage Ordinance 37, or AO-37. “We are ecstatic the community supports us and the work we do for them,” said Gerard Asselin, president of the Anchorage Coalition of Unions and a sergeant for the Anchorage Police Department. The labor law would have sharply curtailed union power by revamping the collective bargaining process for city employees. The outcome marks a policy setback for Mayor Dan Sullivan, who made what he called the “Responsible Labor Act” a signature piece of legislation for his administration and touted its protections for taxpayers. Sullivan was also narrowly losing in his bid for lieutenant governor late Tuesday night, but the race was too close to call. adn/article/20141104/anchorage-voters-favor-unions-repealing-mayor-sullivans-labor-law-rewrite Read more. --- City voters reject public safety tax Pueblo city voters solidly rejected a half-cent sales tax increase Tuesday that was intended to give police and firefighters new equipment and additional staff over five years. Question 200 had 23,584 votes against it and just 8,216 for it at press time. The ballot question was drafted and put on the ballot by the police and fire unions. Their spokesman had no comment Tuesday as final votes were still being tallied, but the size of the defeat was clear. For City Council, the loss means any money for police and fire equipment has to come from a budget that still has a $1 million shortfall projected for next year. “I’m sorry this didn’t pass, but I think we’ll have another opportunity,” said Councilman Chris Nicoll. “Next time, the ballot question should come from council so its wording will be guaranteed not to conflict with the city charter. I think that was a concern for people.” chieftain/news/politics/3032737-120/police-question-fire-council Read more. --- Milwaukee police union to hold no-confidence vote MILWAUKEE (AP) – The union representing Milwaukee police officers is holding a no-confidence vote over the police chief’s firing of an officer involved in a fatal shooting. The Milwaukee Police Association will hold the no-confidence vote for Chief Edward Flynn on Thursday. Union president Mike Crivello told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Flynn’s firing of Officer Christopher Manney broke morale among officers. The vote will be nonbinding, but Crivello hopes it will send a message to city leaders, and he suggested it’s time for a new chief. “The chief did not take time to talk to the officer that he fired. He takes someone’s job that callously, then we too would take his job that callously,” Crivello said. Flynn said he fired Manney not because of the use of force, but because he didn’t follow rules in the moments before the shooting of Dontre Hamilton. Flynn said as a result, there was a struggle in which deadly force became Manney’s only option. Manney is believed to be the first officer in the city fired as a result of a fatal on-duty shooting in at least 45 years. He has appealed his termination. fox11online/2014/10/26/milwaukee-police-union-to-hold-no-confidence-vote/ Read more. --- HPOU: Thousands of officers needed HOUSTON - A member of the Houston Police Departments top brass says the department is struggling at this time to investigate all cases that have good substantial clues or leads, including crimes like rape and robbery. According to a presentation given by HPD to members of Houston City Council, the clearance rate for rape is 44 percent and for robbery its 21 percent. The staffing problem extends far beyond the mounting investigation caseload. Its also had an impact on response times in an emergency. In potentially life-threatening emergencies, HPD can have an officer at your doorstep within six minutes nearly 73 percent of the time. Its more than half, but what if youre included in the remaining 27 percent? We have a crisis with staffing in the Houston Police Department and we need to do something about it, Ray Hunt, president of the Houston Police Officers Union said. We just cant keep sticking out head in the sand like its going to go away because its not going to go away. Hunt sounded the alarm Tuesday. He says the department needs 1,500 new officer a year for the next few years to keep up with turnover and retirements. Thats far more that what the city is planning. Over the next five years, 1,220 officers are expected to be added to the force. click2houston/news/hpou-thousands-of-officers-needed/29391926#.VFCLjaaGSfY.facebook Read more. --- South Bend Police offering financial incentives because of officer shortage The City Council Attorney indicates of the 261 budgeted officer positions, 245 are filled. That leaves 16 empty officer positions in South Bend. Its not just our department, says Fraternal Order of Police President Dan Demler. Nationally, there is a recruiting shortage. So theyre having to get creative. The city created a creative plan to serve as a financial incentive for men and women to pursue a career in law enforcement in South Bend. In the plan, qualified individuals can receive up to $750 in a tiered payment system based on the amount of college education one has received. An officer could receive an additional $100 every year after he or she signs a contract with the department. Any active duty officer can also receive $500 for recruiting another officer to South Bend. The city attorney says the idea for South Bends creative plan came from similar models in Texas and California. When asked if members of the FOP would support such financial incentives, 68% of the members voted yes. Current police officers will also be receiving pay increases in 2015. The city attorney believes financial incentives for those within the department will also help with retention rates. First class police officers will receive a 2.2% pay raise in 2015. Lieutenants and sergeants will receive a 3.5% pay increase. wsbt/news/local/south-bend-offering-financial-incentives-because-of-officer-shortage/29376668?utm_source=LRIS+Email+List&utm_campaign=c18a85cadb-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_88c526526c-c18a85cadb-301212537 Read more. --- Vallejo defends retiree benefit cuts in legal battle with police union With tens of millions of dollars in potential retiree medical liabilities at stake, Vallejo is fighting a legal battle with its police union over cuts to health benefits imposed as part of the citys plan to exit bankruptcy. At the center of the year-old case is the Vallejo Police Officers Associations claim that it has a vested right to fully paid retiree medical benefits based on previous labor agreements. The union also alleges the city negotiated in bad faith before declaring an impasse and imposing the reduced medical benefits on its members last December. In a court documents, Assistant City Manager Craig Whittom said the bankruptcy was triggered by skyrocketing and unsustainable employee costs. The crisis was exacerbated, Whittom said, by a nearly 25 percent drop in revenues as a result of the Great Recession about a year later. During bankruptcy, the city was required to develop a five-year plan detailing its strategy for maintaining fiscal stability. The plan was premised largely on reducing contributions to employee and retiree health plan premiums to $300 per month. As a result of the reductions, the city predicted it could slash its retiree medical liabilities by 40 percent, from $135.4 million as of June 30, 2008 to $82.1 million as of June 30, 2010. timesheraldonline/breaking_news/ci_26835713/vallejo-defends-retiree-benefit-cuts-legal-battle-police Read more. --- Syracuse asking that new police, firefighters and sanitation workers live in the city 92% of police, 67% of firefighters and half of DPW workers not city residents. Almost all Syracuse Police Officers live outside the city, along with most firefighters and half the DPW workers. On Monday, they unanimously passed a resolution asking the Governor, NY Senate and Assembly to amend the Public Officers Law to exempt Syracuse from Residency Requirements that right now do not make the city workers live in Syracuse. Councilor Helen Hudson sponsored the resolution. Similar requests were made in 1997, 2002 and 2006. According to Hudson, 92% of Syracuse Police do not live in Syracuse (just 36 of 451 are city residents), 67% of Syracuse Firefighters do not live in the city, and about half of the citys DPW workers live outside the city limits. Hudson says the exemption hurts the city fabric . Having more police living in the city, for example, she says would make residents feel safer. Jeff Piedmonte, with the Syracuse Police Benevolent Association, told councilors this would be a huge problem if the residency exemption is repealed. He says preference is given to Syracuse residents in recruiting, but thinks there would be a problem filling vacancies. cnycentral/news/story.aspx?id=1115195&utm_source=LRIS+Email+List&utm_campaign=c18a85cadb-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_88c526526c-c18a85cadb-301212537#.VFqRREv8XwL Read more. --- Police contract talks end without new deal The San Antonio Police Officers Association offered to shorten the length of its collective bargaining agreement Monday, as it resumed contract negotiations with the city. Talks eventually stalled, however, after city negotiators questioned how the union came up with the figures for its latest health care proposal. The proposal, which would shorten the length of the collective bargaining agreement from five years to four years, also included a counter proposal for health care that appeared to be more in line with what the city has offered in recent months. All three health care plans proposed by the union would cost the city less than $11,000 a year per officer, according to SAPOA figures. The city, which claims it ran its numbers through an actuary Monday afternoon, disputed those figures. Mondays proposal changed course, as SAPOA again put three plans on the table. Each would cost the city less than $11,000 a year, according to SAPOA figures. Mondays proposal also called for SAPD officers to receive four percent raises the next two years, a one percent raise in 2017 and a three percent raise in 2018, the final year of the proposed contract. kens5/story/news/local/public-safety/2014/11/03/sapoa-city-resume-contract-negotiations/18428299/ Read more. --- Police, City Battle Over Contract For more than two hours Monday, members of the Cincinnati City Councils Finance Committee argued over what was called a disastrous decision, and how it might influence their negotiations with the Fraternal Order of Police for a new contract. Last weeks decision, to allow an arbitrators ruling on a raise for middle management employees to stand at 4%, was hotly contested again Monday. The committees chairman, John Cranley, argued it sent a confusing message to other unions. In December, he said, the council cut funding for some programs, while promising money would not be spent on raises. The bad decision council made last week, he says, has ramifications for the budget on all of our contracts and its going to cost tax payers money. The FOPs Vice President all but promised the union will use last weeks decision against the city. What our officers have been offered, Keith Fangman says, is just an absolute slap in the face. The two main sticking points are salaries and health benefits. The FOP says officers need more money to help pay for the increase in the price of health care. The union is asking for a 6% raise each of the next two years. The city originally countered with a three year contract that included no raise this year, but 1.5% raises in 06 and 07. A independent fact-finding report released Friday attempted to bridge the gap. It called for a three year contract with a 3% raise this year, 2% in 06, and more negotiating for 07. The report offered opinions on 10 separate points of dispute between council and police, and generally ruled in the citys favor. But Cranley believes councils middle management raise changes all that momentum. fox19/story/3010919/police-city-battle-over-contract Read more. --- Baltimore mayor wants to stop police body camera bill Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has said she would veto a city council bill that would require police officers in the city to wear body cameras while on duty. Mayor Rawlings-Blake said while she is for the cameras, a task force she and Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts established last month to study the issue should finish its assessment before the program begins. The task force, charged with analyzing how a police body-camera program should be implemented, was arranged following a Baltimore Sun investigation that reported the city, just in the past three years, has shelled out $5.7 million as a result of more than 100 civil lawsuits that alleged some sort of police misconduct. Yet Mayor Rawlings-Blake said recently that she was concerned the bill would preempt needed insight from her appointed task force. I would rather be thoughtful and right than fast and wrong, Rawlings-Blake said. The worst thing we can do ... is to roll out a program that hasnt been thought through, and unfortunately we are dangerously close to doing that now. rt/usa/201931-baltimore-body-camera-police/ Read more.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Nov 2014 02:09:00 +0000
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