Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Staff report
campbell
The city’s police officers have asked for mediation in contract talks.
The state fact finder’s recommendation will be nonbinding, said city Finance Director Mike Evanson.
Mayor Bill VanSuch said Tuesday he is waiting for the city’s labor legal firm to set up the talks.
The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 42, which represents the police department’s 12 full-time officers, went into talks with the city in July.
The current three-year contract was settled last year but was able to be reopened only for negotiations over wages, VanSuch said.
Evanson said the city cannot disclose how much of a raise the police want while the negotiations are open.
Police now make between $30,000 and $40,000 a year.
VanSuch said the city is not in a position to give raises because it is in fiscal emergency, a status it’s had since 2004.
Under fiscal emergency, the city consults with a state oversight commission.
That commission recommended the city not give raises while it has that status, VanSuch said.
The city is planning to ask for release from fiscal emergency in January.