MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION
held Monday, May 17, 1999,
For the purpose of meeting with the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP).

The meeting began at 9:07 p.m. It was held in the Council Room of the Municipal Building.

PRESENT WERE: Council members Edward V.J. Putens, Rodney M. Roberts, Alan Turnbull Thomas X. White and Mayor Judith F. Davis.

STAFF PRESENT WERE: Michael P. McLaughlin, City Manager; David E. Moran, City Clerk; Jeff Williams, City Treasurer; Bo Ferguson, Senior Management Analyst; Anne Marie Belton; Executive Secretary; James Craze, Chief of Police; Tom Kemp, Police Lieutenant, John Rogers, FOP President; several City police officers/FOP members

ALSO PRESENT WERE: Jim Giese, News Review and several City residents

Mayor Davis thanked the FOP for agreeing to meet at a later time.

John Rogers, President of the FOP, began by reviewing the seven FOP requests. He noted that the items had been ranked by the membership and were in priority order. Mr. Rogers explained the request for an additional 5% deferred comp. contribution.

Mr. White asked if the FOP had completed actuarial studies. Mr. Rogers responded that the retirement plan and the deferred compensation plan were separate in the FOP’s mind.

Mayor Davis noted the fact that police officers can retire at 25 years while other employees must work 30. Mr. Rogers responded that the police believe that they earn the 25 year retirement.

The issue of full health benefits for police retirees was discussed. Mr. White noted that the trend was away from employer provided health benefits for retirees. Ms. Davis asked about the future cost over time. Mr. McLaughlin and Mr. Williams believed this figure would be hard to estimate, because the number of future retirees is an unknown..

Mr. Roberts asked for examples of other agencies that provide an 100% health insurance for retirees. Mr. Rogers was not able to provide any examples.

Mayor Davis asked how many police officers were close to retirement (over 20 years). Mr. Rogers responded that there were approximately six.

The next issue discussed was pay scale revision. There was discussion of how the current pay scale worked. Mr. Rogers offered to sit down with the City Manager and develop some ideas.

Under the issue of starting salaries, Council reviewed the list of starting salaries. Mr. Rogers stressed that the City was near the bottom of the list. Mr. McLaughlin noted that for 3 years the city did not give a COLA so the plan did not increase. One officer noted that the City was at risk of losing good officers and stressed that the city needed to keep pace in pay and benefits to retain good officers.

Mr. Roberts asked if the City could get additional data to compare salary scales with other police departments. Mr. Rogers believed that it would be comparing apples and oranges.

Mr. Turnbull asked about recruitment for vacant positions. Mr. McLaughlin responded that approximately 200 applicants responded to the last advertisement. Mr. Turnbull asked about the officer just hired. It was noted he took a pay cut to come here.

Martha Price stated that the Greenbelt Police department is unique and that she wanted Police to be there when something goes wrong and expressed fear that things may start to go wrong. She stressed that she would rather have a smaller police department that understands the Greenbelt community, than a larger force that turns over.

Officer Buerger stressed that something had changed in the air. Officer Byers stressed that he and the other officers needed more money.

Mayor Davis stressed that all employees are valuable and that everyone needed to work together. Mr. White stated that police employees were treated differently in many ways, including different pay scale, night differential, car and shorter retirement.

Mr. Rogers stressed that employees in the McLeo retirement plan were looking to move to another retirement plan, but stressed that the FOP would not ask the city to contribute funds beyond 16%. He noted that this request was tied to the request for an increased deferred comp. match.

Mr. Rogers noted that the membership was requesting a $1 per hour raise in the night differential. There was some discussion regarding on-call pay. Mr. Rogers expressed concern that the Crisis Intervention Counselors received a higher rate of on-call pay and noted this was a fairness issue.

Next, Mr. Rogers addressed a request to increase the number of MPO positions. Mr. McLaughlin estimated it would cost about $19,000 if all eligible PFC’s were allowed to become MPO’s. Mr. Turnbull wanted to help officers in the middle of their career and believed that increasing the number of MPO’s may be a mechanism to accomplish this.

The meeting ended at 11:30 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

David E. Moran, CMC
City Clerk

City of Greenbelt, Maryland
City Offices, 25 Crescent Road, Greenbelt, MD 20770
Phone: 301-474-8000 FAX: 301-441-8248