NILES Council OKs police contract for ranking officers

The scheduling change is one of the first study recommendations to be implemented.
By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NILES -- A new contract between the city and ranking officers of the police department fulfills one of the recommendations made in an outside review of the department.
Council unanimously approved Wednesday the new contract with the police department's captains and lieutenants. The three-year pact includes a change in scheduling for the supervisors, as well as pay raises each year.
In a report issued last October by the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police, consultants recommended assigning captains and lieutenants evenly across all three shifts to ensure maximum supervisory coverage.
Mayor Ralph A. Infante, who negotiated the contract on behalf of the city, said the department's supervisors will now rotate shifts, with at least one captain and one lieutenant assigned to each shift.
Currently the department has six captains and three lieutenants.
"One captain will remain on steady day turn though, to serve as the head of the detective bureau," he said.
The change is one of the first major recommendations made in the OACP report that has been instituted.
Background
The $10,000 study of the department was jointly commissioned last fall by the rank-and-file officers of the department and city officials to address problems of low morale, training concerns and allegations of fighting between union and management.
In addition to the scheduling change, the pact calls for a 3 percent raise for the supervisors in the first year, another 4 percent in the second year and a 31/2 percent increase the final year.
The increases are comparable to raises other unions in the city have negotiated.
Infante said the supervisors will also increase their shift differential pay throughout the contract. Currently captains and lieutenants receive a 15 percent differential over the salaries of patrolmen. That will increase to 16 percent for the first two years of the agreement and then to 17 percent in the third year, he said.
slshaulis@vindy.com