Time for change

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THE TRUTH HURTS............

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A very interesting article reference City of Naples Police going to impasse hearing. This should shed some light on what we are going through.

Naples police union, city at odds so rare impasse hearing set for today
By JENNA BUZZACCO-FOERSTER

Saturday, June 12, 2010

NAPLES — It’s been more than a decade since they last met.

That last meeting was relatively quick: It took 78 minutes for Naples City Council to impose a police contract during a 1998 impasse hearing.

But that likely won’t be the case Monday when the council will be asked to act as the judicial board during impasse hearings between the city of Naples and its police union.

The city and union reached an impasse in January after six months of negotiations. Compensation packages — specifically wages — were the main sticking point.

The two sides in April met with a special magistrate, who later recommended the city freeze salaries, eliminate the holiday bonus pay and eliminate education pay.

The city of Naples rejected the non-binding recommendation, which paved the way for Monday’s hearing.

While this is the first time in more than a decade Naples City Council has needed to act as a judicial board in impasse proceedings, labor experts said impasse hearings — whether at the special magistrate or local government level — are becoming more prevalent recently.

“It’s not only happening here, but all over the country,” said Peter Bergerson, a professor of public affairs at Florida Gulf Coast University in Estero.

It’s happening more because local governments are facing tight budgets, said Michael Casey, a Miami-based labor attorney with Epstein, Becker and Green.

“When the money revenues were flowing into the coffers of the counties and the cities, the elected officials were happy to give a lot of that money to the unions to make the unions happy, and also in hope they would support the elected officials,” Casey said. “Now that the money has dried up, the (local governments) don’t have the money to dispense, so you’re seeing more of these impasse procedures.”

These negotiations are no different.

City officials say they need to cut labor costs in another tough budget year.

? Click here for related story: Summer vacation almost here for Naples council, one last busy week to go

So the city is asking for a 6 percent reduction in pay and the elimination of the step plan, said Roger Reinke, the city’s assistant city manager and chief negotiator.

The union plans to support the recommendation put forth by the special magistrate, said Robert Young, the union president.

“I think we’d all be content if they froze our salaries for the time being,” Young said.

With so little history holding impasse hearings, few know exactly what to expect Monday. The 1998 impasse hearing, the most recent between the city and police department, focused primarily on police pensions. There was no public comment during that meeting, according to minutes from the Jan. 20, 1998, meeting.

A hearing in 1993 between the firefighters’ union and the city lasted nearly 10 hours. The major sticking point during those contract negotiations were wages, and City Council heard from at least six public speakers on the issue.

Naples City Attorney Bob Pritt said while City Council will not be holding a “new evidentiary hearing,” council members do have the option to allow the public to comment during the proceedings.

“It’s been a tradition with the city of Naples, whether it’s required or not, for Naples to hear them out,” Pritt said of public speakers.

Young said the union hopes to have “the majority of the officers who aren’t on duty” on hand for the hearing.

While there is no limit for how many public speakers can speak Monday, the city does plan to limit how long each side has to present its case.

Pritt said in a May 18 letter to both sides that the union and city each will be given 30 minutes to present. He said 30 minutes isn’t a time limit set by the state code; instead, he based the time limit on what the city allows for similar hearings. It’s also the amount of time the U.S. Supreme Court allows for “the most important cases in the world,” Pritt said.

“With the assistance of the attorneys, they should be able to do a reasonable presentation in that time,” Pritt said.

Once the presentations — and any additional public comment — are over, City Council will be given time to deliberate and make the decision.

And whatever council says, goes, officials said.

The local government is given the final say when they reach this stage of impasse hearings, Casey said. And because Florida laws prohibit public employees from striking, that means there’s little recourse if the union doesn’t get what it hopes for.

Both Pritt and Bergerson said unions can sue if they’re not happy with the outcome, but that likely won’t go far.

There is one other option, Casey said. Unions can take out their frustration with elected officials on election day.

“The ultimate recourse is the ballot box whereby the unions can vote out council members who don’t do what the unions wants,” he said. “There’s a saying that in the public sector, unions sit on both sides of the table. They’re sitting at the table with people that they can elect and then (un-elect).”

While the imposed contract will only be in effect for the current fiscal year, Reinke said it will act as status quo for future negotiations.

The 2010 fiscal year ends Sept. 30.

That means both sides could be back at the negotiating table late this summer to begin working toward a fiscal 2011 contract.

as we observed the unprofessional commission in action last night, i hope every pba member that was there saw the same thing. we have to get the blonde hair drunk and the biatch mayor off the commission. if it was up to mayor she would have taken everything away from us. maybe next time we have the opportunity to have her arrested for beating up her daughter she will go for the ride. furthermore, the mayor mentioned more than once that she has not taken a raise in the last year, but she of course did not mention the amount of dollars she has received in "kick backs". as commissioner julian mentioned more than once to both the drunk and the mayor, the police are different from the general employees. the mayor also got into a heated arguement with commissoner london over the "double dipppers" to which she responded by saying that she did not see anything wrong with "double dippers." i would like to thank commissioners julian, london and gibons for taking the bull be the horns and not allowing the mayor to strong arm them into making the decisions she wanted.

SORRY FOR THE TYPO IN MY ABOVE POST IT WAS COMMISSIONER ANTHONY SANDERS NOT GIBONS.

Impasse hearing highlights:

When the Chief, Asst. Chief, retirees Mangan and Furnell, and of course the City Manager and City Attorney.....ALL got called out in public about the double dipping. If you could have seen the face on Furnell and Mangan when their names were called reference their 25+ years of employment collecting a full pension, no longer contributing the pension, loving THEIR GUARANTEED 8% DROP funds for ever, and of course their new Double Dipping positions....a little smerk, a glance into each other eyes, like...WHO ME? Also, the City Attorney who took the ride on the London Express when ALL of his issues were brought to light. And of course, our lovely S1, S2, and the infamous Mike Good who all had their moment in the spotlight as well.

Anyway, one thing was very clear last night. The Mayor has 1 agenda...HER CITY as she called it! To protect the City of Choice from going bankrupt (which the evidence still was not presented proving that would happen) at the EXPENSE OF THE POLICE OFFICERS. It was quite clear that she WANTED to impose EVERYTHING that the lovely fill-in City Manager so nicely presented. For those who did not attend...it was in a nut shell the following:

PROPOSED BY CITY: No raises for 2009 and 2010. Take away the $10,000 details and change the DROP provisions so we no longer receive the guaranteed 8% once we severe employment with the city (THOSE CHANGES WERE IMPLEMENTED), lower the retiree COLA to 1% for certain employees, change the final averaging calculations (FAC) to 5 years instead of the current 2 years, and cap our educational reimbursement program.

Fortunately, the COLA, FAC, and tuition items were not touched LAST NIGHT. And in FEAR of potential litigations regarding taking away some of the pension benefits tht we received last contract when we increased our employee contributions from 8-10%, the city ruled to lower our contributions to 9.5%. But more interesting (however not surprising) was the lack of professionalism and organization of some of the council members. At one point, a motion was denied by a 3-2 vote but the city clerk had it passing by 3-2. If it wasn't for Commissioner London telling the Mayor otherwise, the Mayor's motion to change everything would have passed and the impasse hearing would have been over!! And you could not avoid the Mayor playing POLITICIAN when after our raise was passed 5-0, the Mayor HAD to point out that the non-Represented emplyees only got a 2% raise and they might not be happy. I applaud and thank Vice Mayor Julian for saying "GIVE THEM THEIR RAISE. SO WHAT WHAT OTHER PEOPLE SAY. YOU CAN'T PLEASE EVERYONE. THEY (THE POICE) ARE DIFFERENT AND DESERVE IT!)

Impasse hearing highlights:
...If you could have seen the face on Furnell and Mangan when their names were called reference their 25+ years of employment collecting a full pension, no longer contributing the pension, loving THEIR GUARANTEED 8% DROP funds for ever, and of course their new Double Dipping positions....a little smerk, a glance into each other eyes, like...WHO ME?

I believe that is a tell tale sign that it's obviously a joke to them and frankly I think that is a disgrace and they should be ashamed. You had your career people...seriously HANG IT UP and MOVE ON for Christ sake. Or is the truth of the matter is that you are unemployable in another law enforcement agency....or are you afraid that in another agency your true colors would be outed in a matter of days...maybe that's it...without your "protector" you would be outed in a split second.
I mean with all your qualifications you guys should me picked up by another agency lickity split. I mean seriously, how many of other departments' have applicants that refer to themselves as "retired 'insert rank here' ". :snicker:

Can someone please tell me if once an officer has retired can the pension benefits he retired with be changed somewhere down the road?

Can someone please tell me if once an officer has retired can the pension benefits he retired with be changed somewhere down the road?

I think it is painfully obvious where the problems are in the department. I Mayor needs to go along with bobble head Dotti, and of course Chief Magill. Once those three individuals are booted out then maybe the department can start to get on track. Until then it will continue to swirl around the toilet bowl

the biggest turd in that bowl is S1. but of course the mayor is going to keep him around, remember he kept her from going to jail for beating up her daughter. what would happen to any officer that decided to violate state law? i wonder what the FDLE would think about that?

Just to remember what we gave up last signed and ratified contract (2005-2008):

Union members received/lost/changed:
Art. 21 4,3,3% (retro) wage COLA
Art. 21.5 We lost the guaranteed percentages for specialty pay and went to fixed amounts
Art. 32 Pension
-- $10,000 in outside details now pensionable. All details will have employees pension contribution taken out.
-- Additional 1% COLA for retirees (bumped us up to 2% GUARANTEED!)
-- Took away medical stipend for all employees hired after 10/1/96
-- New employees lost right to purchase additional 5 years at 8.4 now must buy-back at acturial cost
-- INCREASED OUR PENSION CONTRIBUTION TO 10% (2% INCREASE...FROM 8% TO 10%)
-- Final Average calculations changed to (Most recent 2 calendar year pensinable earnings)
Art. 34 HRA
-- Started the HRA account. Benefits varied depending on years of service.

This contract was signed/ratified by the City of Halandale Beach on 03/16/2006.

I believe it is important to realize just what WE LOST at the impasse hearing last week. We must fight to keep 2% COLA & 2-year FAC AT ALL COSTS!!! These pension changes are "life changing" once you retire and we can't give them up!!!

You want to save some money...here's some money saving cuts that wouldn't effect much of anything:

ELIMINATE the following and get back to the basics:

PAL - Get rid of it

COP Unit - I mean let's be serious...what the hell do they really do every day...HONESTLY. This unit has almost as many
supervisiors as they do officers.

SET - Review their stats and productivity and tell me what benefit they are to the City. Are they effective ? Do they
accomplish what a SET Team is supposed to do ?

Money Laundering and DEA - Re-evaluate how much benefit the Dept. has received over the past several years.

CUT that ridiculous teaching position at the high school. Nothing against Mike...but what do we need that position for?

Why the hell are we adding yet another traffic position ?? I mean seriously!!

V.I.N. - Self-explanatory

We really should take a closer look at the above positions. Most are nothing but smoke and mirrors and if we are honest with ourselves; nothing would really be affected if they were eliminated. When the economy improves, maybe we can start bringing these postions back. I am just being realistic and expressing the truth. Too many people have been allowed to just skate on by in these positions that are really not doing a whole heck of a lot for the City or for the Dept. Take the money saved by eliminating these postions and the elimination of the postions held by Linda, Dermot, Nick and Norm...and apply it to a pay raise as well as to supplement the cost of our current benefits.

AMEN!!!

But this would be even easier....BSO TAKEOVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/browar ... 4241.story (http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/davie/fl-davie-police-bso-20100716,0,6934241.story)

Congratulations to the newly elected PBA Representatives. I absolutely love it!! Three PBA Reps with absolutely nothing that the Chief can dangle in front of their noses to manipulate them. Oh boy...you couldn't have three better PBA Reps at this time. How are you going to manipulate McGovern...huh? How about Diaz...hmm...threaten to take him out of the SET Team? And the best one of all...what are you going to use to try and manipulate Dady...threaten to put him on Alpha Shift? This is absolutely hilarious...three representatives that I have intellect and a set of balls!! Good luck gentlemen.

Just want to say congrats to the new reps! Voting in those that are stand up officers says volumes. The officers and sergeants will have a voice, hopefully they will stand behind you when you speak for them. I love it when there are reps that can't be swayed by the hanging carrot or intimidation. You all will do a great job! I was prooud to work with you all and am pleased see you take on these postitions. As we all know, there have been those that used this position to better their own positions. But you all know that and I believe you are doing this for the right reason.

Retired (ex- rep) D-13

Many of you know me for only a few things: my refusal to wear certain lady garments, my ability to work while injured, my inability to achieve a valid warrant, my lust for the perfect Marlboro, my equal loathing for Nicorette gum and the a**hole who invented it, or my undeniable kick-ass mullet…but perhaps I am known most for my hate of the word (and the very noun itself) of c**k…well except for one of course. It’s a long story that I’ve wanted to get off my wrinkled droop-boobed chest for almost my whole life, and now before my exile I must let the world know…let us begin.
It was the summer of ’53, I was 13 at the time (just legal in the state of Mississippi) and I had just finished dinner. It was one of my favorite meals, a meal to this day I still feel is the only meal complimented with candle light…Dinosaur Cheesy Mac. I was in the shower now washing my undeniable kick-ass mullet with my doctor prescribed dandruff shampoo when, I suddenly heard the door creak open like so many times before. I knew exactly who it was. He didn’t say a word to me, he never had to. And with the same respect I tried not to make a sound either, it was always easier with as little dialog as possible. Perhaps tonight he would do more than just watch, so I decided to take my chance and offer myself to the only man I knew could do me right. I slowly slid open the shower curtain to reveal my naked self with my undeniable kick-ass mullet. I had already lathered and rinsed but perhaps I could go through it again, it was always his favorite part of the show.
I was in the middle of letting the suds run down my crap-stained butt-crack while at the same time pinching my salami nipples to add just the hint of a tease that would, without a doubt, drive him wild. And I must say it was working, before I could bend over to pick up the soap I noticed the biggest bulge in his pants, and my mouth began to water just thinking of what was behind those overalls. The silence finally broke with the sexiest ‘Southern drawl’ I have ever heard him use, “Yo mama is wurkin late agin tonaht”. During that confession I kept my eyes closed, letting my heart skip a beat, my knees go weak and my undeniable kick-ass mullet remain undeniably kick-ass. When I opened my eyes back up I finally gazed upon what I have been waiting on for over 6 years.
He had unbuttoned his overalls to reveal the most beautiful piece of meat I had ever seen. As he stroked it I witnessed it getting longer and harder right inside his hands, and for the first time I actually felt jealousy for a body part. I could see every vein and with every pulse of it I could feel it inside me…I knew in my heart that this was the night.
I walked out of the shower forgetting to even dry myself or my undeniable kick-ass mullet, and as I went to grab his hand he quickly redirected it to his member, letting that guide me into the bedroom. Then, in a moment that will last forever in my mind, two undeniable kick-ass mullets came together that night. I believe for my sake he wanted to be gentle, considering that I haven’t had a chance to weed-whack my jungle bush yet, but I assured him I wanted to be treated like the tween I was…and that I had been a very bad girl.
It started with him throwing me on the bed and forcing me open, and you could almost see the green stink lines coming off of my jungle bush. It was the first time I had my ankles behind my head (in what he called the ‘Mississippi Pretzel’). And when he shoved it in me I watched my jungle bush split, parting ever so slightly and fully accepting that spear like a Venus Flytrap taking in a dung beetle. Every pump was faster and harder, the steam left over from the shower had mixed with the sweat on my crap-stained butt-crack to create an aroma I will never forget. At one point I thought he was going to break my pelvis! Just when I thought I couldn’t take anymore, he flipped me over on my hands and knees and spread my crap-stained butt-crack. I tried to turn around to witness his facial expression when he forced my head down in the pillow and grabbed my undeniable kick-ass mullet. He held that thing like handle bars, controlling the movement of my head with every thrust.
“If dis is wat heavin is like den jus snuff me nahw!”, I finally shouted into the pillow. To be honest that was the last clear thought I could remember, after that comment everything was combined into one wonderful scene of bliss. I knew when it was close to being over because his moans were growing louder and longer, I just wasn’t sure where to take the load. The only thing I asked him in a single plea was, “please, not on da undeniable kick-ass mullet”. He replied, “I wud neva do dat”. My legs began to shiver, knowing what was about to come from me, and in the most perfect of all timing his climax was incestuously matched by mine as I finally screamed, “DADDY!”
When it was over, we both just laid in bed, breathing heavy but worried to make eye contact, we had just done what is considered normal practice in Mississippi, but I was still nervous. Then before I knew it we both were startled by the sound of jingling keys on the front of the double-wide and we knew Mama was home. I jumped out of that bed almost as fast as he threw me on it and scurried to the door, I turned back to notice him staring at my crap-stained butt-crack as it was shaking with every step…and I couldn’t say I blamed him, I worked long and hard to keep that crap-stain symmetrical. As I jumped into my own bed, sticking to the sheets, I made sure my undeniable kick-ass mullet was in place so that it would not get ruined (I did have a reputation to uphold). I tried to drift off to sleep for hours but my mind was still racing with the events that just took place.
Of course that was the night I knew I would swear off man meat forever. Soon after that I tried out for the softball team (convinced all the girls that my undeniable kick-ass mullet should be in a museum) and started my muff-diving life. I tried everything since that night to replace the feeling of that beautiful piece of tube steak with its perfectly placed genital warts, but nothing compares to that glorious purple headed yogurt slinger, not a cucumber, termite infested tree branch, a Golden Retriever’s head, F-350 drive shaft…nothing could come close. That’s when I decided to start hating the world (mostly men), and unfortunately for the Hallandale Beach P.D. it’s also when I decided to become a cop. And now, every once in a while I’ll walk down stairs to take a look at the people who are doing the work I’m too good for, I mostly come down to view the ’94 picture of our fabulous Police/CSA crew. I wrote a letter to big Tommy one time in an attempt to air brush my undeniable kick-ass mullet on everyone else in the picture to make it the most amazing photo ever taken on the face of the earth, but big Tommy told me there is a lot more memorabilia on the wall and he couldn’t have a crowd gathering around just one. So as I leave you all I can only give one piece of advice (the only thing that ever really helped me). And that is simply…shoot a man in the a**, it’ll get you anywhere you want to go.
Thank you and God Bless….women.