|   Weather   |   Traffic   |   Contact Us   |   Mobile
Follow us:



 
ADVANCED
SEARCH>>










ADVERTISEMENTS
RECENTLY POSTED JOBS
See all>




TOP JOBS
See all>
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Delicious
Share
E-mail this article
E-mail
Leave a Comment
Comment
Print this Article
Print
advertisement

Until now, Frederick’s Fraternal Order of Police has not worked without a contract since 1995, straining the relationship between police and the mayor, and prompting the FOP to take its case to the public.

After nine months of negotiations between Mayor Randy McClement (R) and police going nowhere, FOP President Charlie Snyder took to the airwaves last week to reveal specifics of the bargaining process.

The sticking point, he said, is that the mayor will not budge on a salary structure issue.

“This is not about raises,” Snyder said in an interview with The Gazette this week.

Instead, it is about maintaining a salary structure that awards step increases amounting to about a four percent increase — for about 90, or two-thirds, of the city’s 133 sworn officers amounting to $152,000 a year, he said.

City employees used to advance through the step system, but that system was replaced with a pay for performance model during the W. Jeff Holtzinger administration (2005-2009) to save money.

McClement kept mum last week, but issued a statement Tuesday to clarify and reaffirm his position. The FOP plans either a press conference or press release later this week. Details were not available before press time.

If the mayor is willing to keep the step system in place, the FOP will concede to paying more out of pocket for health insurance and forego tuition reimbursement and military compensation, among other items, Snyder said. Police have also offered to take three furlough hours, forego a holiday and make one percent more in pension contributions.

Officer Joe Palkovic, secretary for the FOP, told the mayor and board of aldermen at last week’s public meeting that McClement is digging in his heels over principle and not money considerations.

“The principle is equity. The mayor says police are no different than other employees,” Palkovic said.

Palkovic said while he understands there are hazards and the potential for accidents in other jobs, when police are in danger, it is not accident, it’s their job.

“When I run into a crowd of people and someone jumps on my back, that is not an accident, that’s my job,” he said. “When I am on foot patrol at Carroll Creek and I am running towards the sound of a gunshot, that is no accident … it’s my job.”

Palkovic admonished the mayor for “hiding behind money.”

“This is not about money,” Palkovic said.

McClement made no comment after Palkovic’s plea and did not address Snyder’s appearance on The Blaine Young Show on 930 WFMD at last week’s meeting. But Dale Driscoll, chair of the mayor’s transition team in 2009, did.

“We’re talking about a feeling of entitlement, that’s what we’re talking about,” Driscoll said last week. “It’s time for the FOP to grow up and understand that we are all being asked to do more with less.”

When asked after his public comments if he was there at the request of McClement, Driscoll said “no.”

McClement broke his silence Tuesday with a two-page statement in response to the FOP’s allegations.

McClement spells out his case for not funding the requested step increase in four bulleted points: a structural deficit that will be compounded with step increases; no salary increases for any city employees; economic struggles that taxpayers face that make it difficult to raise taxes to fund the increases; and the idea that the city may have to add new officers in 2012 after 20 officers who are eligible retire.

City employees, McClement said, have not had raises in three years, while the FOP did. During the first three years of the Holtzinger administration, however, city employees including police officers received raises totaling 11.5 percent, according to budget figures provided by Budget Director Katie Barkdoll. The FOP received a raise of two percent in 2010, while civilian employees did not.

The FOP received a raise of two percent in 2010, while civilian employees did not.

The mayor denied that police have offered any givebacks to the city and said “there is nothing more than moving one dollar from one silo to another without taking into consideration what moving those dollars will do.”

Police counter that their concessions save the city much more than the step increases cost. Police figure they can save the city more than $300,000. Budget director Barkdoll, however, said she has requested to meet with the FOP to determine how it came up with those savings projections.

With McClement unmovable on the issue, the FOP’s next step, Snyder said, is to take out ads in the local media to state its case. He wants the public to know that by eroding the step system, the city will diminish the quality of its police force in the next several years.

Beyond that, there is nothing more police can do. The city charter prevents them from striking or conducting a “sick out” where officers all call in sick on the same day.

“We really don’t have anything except good faith in the bargaining system,” Snyder said. “Ultimately, we hope that the city will do what is fair,” Snyder said.

kheerbrandt@gazette.net