Jeffersonville Fraternal Order of Police offered $300 raise

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July 29, 2010

Confusion remains on fitness test issue

By DAVID A. MANN David.Mann@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Thu Jul 29, 2010, 12:42 AM EDT

JEFFERSONVILLE — Members of Jeffersonville’s Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #100 are being offered annual raises of $300, not unlike that which had been offered to the city’s firefighters union earlier this week.

However, as parties walked away from about two hours of negotiations between FOP leaders and members of the Jeffersonville City Council Wednesday night, there still seemed to be confusion about what would happen if a union member fails a required fitness test.

According to the current union contract, an officer hired after January 2010 can have three tries to pass the test, which consist of a timed run, push-ups and sit-ups. Those unable to pass in three attempts would be referred to the Police Merit Commission for possible termination.

In the latest version of the contract, which came out of negotiations Wednesday, references to termination are apparently removed. That version still has yet to be typed up and submitted to the police union for a vote, so nothing is official yet.

Asked about why the language was removed, Council President Nathan Samuel – who led negotiations – said that having it left out was an oversight and the council’s intent was to continue to have it in there. Union President Joe Hubbard said he was glad to see it removed. Council Attorney Greg Clark, who represents Samuel and other members, said termination is ultimately a merit commission decision anyway and it would be addressed as a part of grievance policy.

It’s unclear whether the two sides will have to get back together to solve the issue or if it could simply be written back into the contract that union members will review before voting.

For now, an Aug. 1 deadline for approving a new deal has been pushed back. Hubbard noted that a vote could take place within the next two weeks.

Regardless of how the termination issue is addressed when the contract comes to a vote, Hubbard admits it was “a far cry from our initial offer.”

Hubbard had proposed four percent raises for union members over the contract period — 2011 and 2012. He’d also proposed a $500 bonus for officers who passed the test, $100 per officer per year for the FOP gym and two hours of compensation time per week to prepare for the tests.

“I don’t see where we can agree to this,” Samuel said.

The part of that proposal regarding compensation time raised eyebrows among council members.

Councilman Mike Smith said it would be taking officers off the street at a time when the city is expanding its police force due to annexation. Councilwoman Connie Sellers expressed concern that officers could accumulate time, then end up taking a whole day off.

Hubbard countered that the Indiana State Police have a similar program in place. He said that officers could use the time in small increments in a week and that they would not go to the gym unless staffing was at the appropriate level.

Ultimately, it came down to dollars for the council. Samuel noted that agreeing to all the demands would have amounted to a more than $4,900 increase in officers’ salaries. That would come at a time when pending caps on property taxes could reduce city revenues by as much as $780,000, Smith said.

Samuels said he believed the city already offers a competitive salary and benefits package — noting that more than 180 people applied for six openings that had recently been advertised.

The council said they were unwilling to budge on the $300 figure.

Asked about it after the meeting, Hubbard declined to guess how the proposal would do among members.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” he said.