City settles contract with ranking cops

A settlement has been reached on a 12-year contract between the City of Long Beach  and a union representing high-ranking police officers that is expected to provide them with a small raise.

The new contract with the Commanding Officers Association covers just three positions — lieutenant, detective captain and inspector — but Police Commissioner Ron Walsh said Monday that the department has been authorized by the city to add three more high-ranking officers to its staff.

Walsh said he hoped the contract would serve as a “roadmap” for talks with the city’s Police Benevolent Association and its professional firefighters. The roughly 60 PBA members have worked without a contract since 2017, while 25 or so professional firefighters have not had a signed agreement since 2010.

The Commanding Officers Association split from the PBA in 2013, but some COA members were covered by the original PBA contract.

Police lieutenants were earning about $168,000 annually, while detective lieutenants made about $178,000.

“I am very happy with this contract,” Walsh said. “I’m happy for the city, and I’m happy for the members” of the union. “This moves the city forward.”

The contract settlement was announced at a special City Council meeting last Friday afternoon and was approved unanimously. Councilman Roy Lester abstained, saying the public should see the contract before a council vote.

“I applaud the amount of work you put in,” Lester told city staff members who took part in contract talks. “I think there are a lot of things that are overly generous. But there’s not much you can do, because you came from a contract that was overly generous.

“But I think the public should see it before we vote on it,” Lester added. “I think the public is being short-changed, and that this is a violation of the law.”

The council then went into executive session — closing off its discussion from the public — for about 30 minutes before returning and approving the contract.

Separation payouts, going forward, will be capped at $325,000, Walsh said. They had been unlimited. COA members also will work more days with fewer “family days” now allowed.

Lt. Bill Dodge, president of the COA, said COA members will now have a “pay-as-you-go” model, meaning that accrued time had been booked and paid at a later day. It will now be paid immediately.

The city has been trying to work itself out of a debt so deep, Wall Street downgraded its bonds. The current city administration, headed by Donna Gayden, has blamed the situation on past mismanagement and corruption.

“There was great animosity” in past talks, Dodge said. “Nothing got done. This current team sat down with a purpose to get it done.”

Council President Karen McInnis described the deal in an email as “yet another positive sign of substantive progress from our professional staff.” Walsh and the COA “stayed the course and hammered out a fair contract. This is a great prototype for future negotiations with the PBA and the firefighters.:”

The bigger challenge, to settle the PBA contract, still looms. Those members have not received a pay hike since 2015.

”The city and our union are willing to get together,” PBA president Michael Corbett said. “It’s a matter of timing.”

The two sides have discussed grievances, but Corbett hopes talks on a contract could begin ”as soon as possible.”

Walsh hopes talks with the PBA can begin again soon, and that the successful negotiations with the COA will serve as a roadmap to get to a settlement soon.

The PBA also is wrestling with a decision made last year by a state arbitrator that unionized officers are not entitled to pay raises, citing the city’s lack of funds. The PBA has filed suit in Mineola seeking to set aside that decision.

The PBA can still negotiate a new contract while it appeals the arbitrator’s decision.

Sam Pinto, president of the firefighters union, said his members agreed last year to bring in new members at a lower salary level. But a contract with current members “is still outstanding.” The union has reached out to the city to begin talks, but has not heard back.

“There’s no consistency” with the city, Pinto said.

“As was the case with the Commanding Officers Association, this administration is committed to making a good faith effort to address any longstanding unresolved issues with all of the city’s collective bargaining units,” city spokesman John McNally said, adding the administration “looks forward” to sitting down with the union “in relatively short order.”

Top salary for a professional firefighter after about five years is $115,000, Pinto said, adding that firefighters earn more these days because they are working more due to shortages.

“We are understaffed,” he said.