Tough Budget Times mean Tough Decisions (Part 2)
Since not all of you follow the Police Chief's blog, I thought it would be appropriate to pass on the his latest post regarding our current labor situation:
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
At last night's City Council Meeting there was a closed personnel session regarding the labor issues including the possible layoffs. While I cannot share the discussions that took place during the meeting I can say that the closed session has been continued to this Friday afternoon for further discussion. No decisions regarding layoff notices will be made until after that meeting. Prior to the closed session, Sgt. Chris Mraz spoke very eloquently to the Council as a private citizen regarding the importance of public safety in the community. That took a lot of courage and I appreciate Sgt. Mraz for having the courage of his convictions.
There was some concern yesterday regarding the timing of my speaking to the members of the MPEA who might receive layoff notices. When I first got the job as your Chief I promised myself that I would not be one of those people who gives someone bad news by dropping a memo in their box at 4:55 on a Friday as I was heading for the parking lot. I feel that every person here deserves the respect of looking them in the eye and giving them to opportunity to ask questions about how the situation affects them. The first time a person hears about the possibility of getting something as serious as a layoff notice should not be when they see it in their mail box. The decision was made on Monday to issue layoff notices to MPEA as well as MPOA members on Wednesday morning after the Council meeting. That afternoon I began to speak to the different work groups in the MPEA to tell them that it was likely that many of them would receive the notices. This did not mean that layoffs were inevitable or that their positions would be the ones that were cut if that it came to that. I answered their questions if they had any. The timing was unfortunate that it was prior to your association meeting but I had less than two days to speak to everyone. This was not done to try to influence anyone but to show some respect to those who would be affected. There is no question that I would rather see both the associations reach an agreement with the City because I loathe the thought of losing any of our people. However, I believe that all you are intelligent and honorable people and will vote as your conscience and circumstances guide you.
These are trying times. We have never experienced anything like this as a Department. I know that everyone feels strongly about the issues we now face and not everyone agrees on what course to take. Now is not the time to be angry with each other. You may have to agree to disagree on what should be done. Another person's circumstances may not be the same as yours and will drive their decisions. We need to respect each other. We will get through this.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
At last night's City Council Meeting there was a closed personnel session regarding the labor issues including the possible layoffs. While I cannot share the discussions that took place during the meeting I can say that the closed session has been continued to this Friday afternoon for further discussion. No decisions regarding layoff notices will be made until after that meeting. Prior to the closed session, Sgt. Chris Mraz spoke very eloquently to the Council as a private citizen regarding the importance of public safety in the community. That took a lot of courage and I appreciate Sgt. Mraz for having the courage of his convictions.
There was some concern yesterday regarding the timing of my speaking to the members of the MPEA who might receive layoff notices. When I first got the job as your Chief I promised myself that I would not be one of those people who gives someone bad news by dropping a memo in their box at 4:55 on a Friday as I was heading for the parking lot. I feel that every person here deserves the respect of looking them in the eye and giving them to opportunity to ask questions about how the situation affects them. The first time a person hears about the possibility of getting something as serious as a layoff notice should not be when they see it in their mail box. The decision was made on Monday to issue layoff notices to MPEA as well as MPOA members on Wednesday morning after the Council meeting. That afternoon I began to speak to the different work groups in the MPEA to tell them that it was likely that many of them would receive the notices. This did not mean that layoffs were inevitable or that their positions would be the ones that were cut if that it came to that. I answered their questions if they had any. The timing was unfortunate that it was prior to your association meeting but I had less than two days to speak to everyone. This was not done to try to influence anyone but to show some respect to those who would be affected. There is no question that I would rather see both the associations reach an agreement with the City because I loathe the thought of losing any of our people. However, I believe that all you are intelligent and honorable people and will vote as your conscience and circumstances guide you.
These are trying times. We have never experienced anything like this as a Department. I know that everyone feels strongly about the issues we now face and not everyone agrees on what course to take. Now is not the time to be angry with each other. You may have to agree to disagree on what should be done. Another person's circumstances may not be the same as yours and will drive their decisions. We need to respect each other. We will get through this.
Labels: Labor
posted by City Manager @ 5:58 AM
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