City OKs tentative contract with police union

CELINA - City councilors have made a significant breakthrough in employee relations by approving new three-year tentative agreements with the union representing police patrol officers and dispatchers.

Councilors on Monday night passed legislation authorizing city administrators to enter into a contract with the Fraternal Order of Police representing the dispatchers.

They suspended the rules requiring three public readings and unanimously approved the ordinance as an emergency measure, causing it to take effect immediately.

The ordinance also repealed legislation approved at the Feb. 26 council meeting authorizing the same tentative agreement. Councilors had inadvertently given their blessing to the agreement before it had been by signed by the union.

FOP representing the dispatchers officially endorsed the tentative agreement a day after the Feb. 26 council meeting, thus necessitating that councilors repeal their prior legislative and adopt a new ordinance on Monday night.

Celina Mayor Jeff Hazel, who was out of town during the Feb. 26 council meeting, had initially told the newspaper that legislation passed that night regarding tentative agreements with the dispatchers and patrol officers would need repealed.

Since the tentative agreements were authorized by two separate ordinances, however, the one involving patrol officers did not need to be repealed on Monday night.

Hence two tentative agreements are now in place for the dispatchers and patrol officers, Hazel said.

Getting down to the meat-and-potatoes of the agreements, Hazel said the patrol officers' wage scale was restructured. Additionally, they will get 4% raises the second year of the contract and 3% raises the final year.

Hazel said the dispatchers' wage scale was also restructured. They will get 5% raises in the second and third years of the contracts.

"We tried to make sure that we were competitive with other communities because we were the last to the table of a large region, which is why we got very, very far behind," Hazel said. "We're really pleased and I hope we can come to a swift agreement with the sergeants."

Negotiations are ongoing with the FOP representing police sergeants, Hazel said. Mediation between the two sides is scheduled to begin today.

"I have high hopes for it," Hazel said.