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Members of the city's rank-and-file police union who have proposed a two-year contract containing no pay increase blasted the administration for failing to bargain in good faith, and warned the matter is heading toward binding arbitration, where the city would almost certainly lose.
Thus far, the police and the administration have met 15 times this year. Mayor Irene Elia and City Administrator Al Joseph attended exactly one of the meetings, on Sept. 8.
"The mayor told us at that time she wanted the contract signed within three days," a source close to the negotiations said. "That was the last time we heard from anyone in the administration."
The police have been working without a contract since Elia took office in January of this year. Initially, they proposed an increase of 10 percent over two years, a plan that was rejected by the city council. Later, they came back with a four-year package calling for an increase of 1 percent in 2000, 3 percent in 2001 and 4 percent each in 2002 and 2003 for a total of 12 percent.
Ultimately, they arrived at a two-year proposal containing no pay increases in exchange for a provision that would allow officers to live outside the city after 10 years on the force.
"The Mayor told us council would never approve that, but it was never even presented to council," the source said. "She lied to us and told us that all the other city unions were on board for no raises, and then she threatened she would go to the Gazette and make us look bad if we didn't go along."
Lawsuits against a number of cities around the state have put an end to the practice of residency requirements for police officers in a number of locations, and union sources warned that Niagara Falls would not be immune to such a suit.
"They're going to lose it eventually anyway, you would think they'd want to get something for it while they can," the source said.
But negotiations with the administration have been anything but logical.
"When you're talking to her, you realize you're talking to someone who never had to wake up in the morning wondering how she was going to pay for something," a source added. "They just don't have a clue."
Police also are angry with Council Chairman Anthony Quaranto for remarks he made concerning the police department. Quaranto is critical of the fact that officers often have to appear in court when defendants plead 'not guilty' to violations they've been charged with.
"The paper had him quoted saying 'Don't hide behind the badge'," one veteran officer said. "He sounded like some drunk in the street trying to pick a fight."
Additionally, the money generated by fines resulting from those court appearances more than covers the $60 "court pay" an officer receives for testifying.
Earlier this year the state sent in a mediator, Chuck Leonard, to try and break the impasse.
"He gave up, but he told us the city is going to rue the day they turned down this contract," a source close to the negotiations said. "He told us the worst-case scenario would be that we got what we asked for originally, and that would be retroactive back to the first of the year."
Rank-and-file union members say there is gross mismanagement in the department, where, on some shifts, as many as four lieutenants and two captains oversee the work of fewer than a dozen patrolmen.
Furthermore, since the captains and lieutenants have a no-layoff clause in their contract, some wonder why Elia promoted two patrolmen to the rank of lieutenant just two weeks ago, on Oct. 5.
"What kind of sense does that make? Now those people not only make more money, they can't be laid off," one source said. "Meanwhile, the rest of us are being threatened."
Additional speculation surrounds the status of police Superintendent Christopher Carlin. County officials are reportedly reticent to extend the one-year leave of absence he was granted by the Sheriff's Department when Elia named him to the position after taking office in January.
All police department sources contacted for this story agreed they would do what they could to help the city out of its financial dilemma. The department may be short by as many as 20 patrolmen due to attrition by this time next year, and union members would expect at least some of those positions to remain unfilled.
"We've offered them a contract that isn't going to cost the city anything financially, and we said we'd work with a reduction in manpower," one member said. "What more do they want?"