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Campbell mayor, council at odds over police pacts
By jeanne starmack
campbell
City council would like to see the return of a law firm that specializes in labor issues for all employee contract negotiations.
It’s Mayor George Krinos who would make the decision to use the Akron firm Clemans-Nelson & Associates — in fact, he chose not to use the firm for negotiations this past year with police.
Krinos contends the city saved $26,000 a year by not using the firm, which had handled Campbell’s negotiations since 2003.
But it’s what the firm saved the city with its expertise in labor contracts and in handling grievances that outweigh the upfront savings, said council President Bill VanSuch and city finance director Sherman Miles.
Miles also disagreed with Krinos’ savings estimate, saying the firm dropped from costing the city $87,000 in 2003-04 “to get labor issues under control” to an average of $10,500 a year from 2007 to 2009.
Krinos and city Administrator Lewis Jackson handled the police negotiations on behalf of the city, and a contract was signed July 27 that gives six police officers on a lower pay tier a $1-an-hour raise. The raise will cost the city $16,500 more a year, Miles said.
Krinos waived a fact-finding phase of negotiations and agreed to go straight to arbitration. The arbitrator decided the pay issue, and that decision is binding, Krinos has said.
The city’s law director, however, said that council could reject the contract within 30 days, which it voted to do Sept. 1.
The council also has 90 days from the time the arbitrator’s decision was final to appeal it in court. The deadline is Oct. 18.
There has been no formal decision yet on whether council will file an appeal.
VanSuch said earlier this week that the raise, which was given to half the city’s full-time police force so the department has parity, was not fair. “The rest of the employees didn’t get one,” VanSuch said.
“It should have been discussed,” he continued. “We should have been notified,” he said, adding that council members have the right to observe negotiations. Krinos never advised them about when to sit in, he said.
Council, which makes the budget appropriations, always voted on contracts in the past before they became final, he said. It did not get an opportunity to do so this time.
The police talks were Krinos’ first negotiations for the city. He has been mayor since December 2009.
The council cannot force Krinos to use Clemans-Nelson for negotiations, but it has presented a resolution recommending that the city use the firm. It comes up for final passage next Wednesday.
“We’re saying they have the experience and saved us a lot of money,” VanSuch said.
Krinos said Tuesday he doesn’t want to comment on whether he still thinks it was a good idea not to use the law firm for the police talks.
“I still believe we can save money,” he said.
The police contract also gives control over police staffing levels to the mayor, and council contends it should have that control.
VanSuch has pointed out that the city’s charter gives council the right to decide how many police officers the city needs.