Fact finder sides with Boardman police union

By Denise Dick

The township had argued that it is on the verge of financial collapse.

BOARDMAN — Members of the union representing township police sergeants, lieutenants and captains have been working without a contract since September 2005, and a fact finder is recommending a new pact run through year’s end.

The fact finder appointed through the State Employment Relations Board issued the report this week. It makes recommendations for a new contract between the township and the Ohio Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association union representing its 17 rank police officers: two captains, four lieutenants and 11 sergeants.

Trustees will meet in special session at noon Sunday at the township government center where they are expected to discuss the report in executive session. If they reject it, the process proceeds to binding arbitration.

The township had wanted a new contract with rank officers to run for three years from the date of approval.

The union wanted the agreement to run from Jan. 1, 2006, through the end of this year.

Citing the connection between the patrol and rank collective bargaining units, the fact finder recommended a contract duration from Jan. 1, 2006, through Dec. 31, 2008. Patrol officers make up a separate bargaining unit.

Under compensation, the rank officers are paid on a wage differential based on the highest wage paid to a patrol officer. In the last patrol unit contract, a provision was added allowing higher pay for officers with 10, 15, 20 or 25 years of service.

The rank contract calls for a 13 percent pay differential between sergeants and senior patrol officers. The union wanted the 13 percent differential to apply to the amount paid to an officer with 25 years of service.

The township had argued that it is on the verge of financial collapse and that the union members are among the highest paid in the area. It said that the wage scale isn’t a step system but a longevity system.

The fact finder recommended preservation of the 13 percent differential.

“Here the motive behind the employer’s proposal to alter the fundamental calculation for rank differential established as recently as the predecessor agreement is to correct what the employer perceives to be a poor agreement with its patrolmen,” the fact finder wrote.

The differential was established with “full knowledge that any such differential is premised upon the compensation to be paid the patrol unit,” the report said.

Jason Loree, township administrator, said the fact finder’s recommendation would mean that sergeants this year would earn 13 percent more than a 25-year patrolman earns at $30.03 per hour. A senior patrolman without the longevity pay earns $28.88 per hour.

Sergeants now earn $32.64 per hour; lieutenants make $36.89 per hour; and the hourly rate for captains is $41.69.

Atty. Kevin Powers, who represents the union, couldn’t be reached.