Evening Sun: Eastern Adams police have a contract
By SETH GOLDSTEIN
Evening Sun Reporter
The Eastern Adams Regional Police Commission Wednesday accepted a new police contract hashed out between the commission and the union's attorneys without a third-party arbitrator.
After the meeting, Jim Eisenhart, vice chairman of the commission and mayor of New Oxford, said the costs of wages and benefits will go up 20 percent in the first year.
But he said the increase will not raise dramatically the overall cost of operating the department.
The police commission fired Chief Joe Dougherty in November. And since there are no plans to fill the position in the near future, Eisenhart said the new contract is close to what the commission projected in its tentative 2006 budget. That budget essentially revamped 2005 numbers to exclude a chief's salary and add cost-of-living increases for officers.
Newly appointed commission member Fred Nugent said Sgt. Mike Trostel will continue to handle everyday operations. The commission will handle administrative tasks.
The regional force has been working without a contract since Jan. 1. Negotiations began in May 2005 and were tense at times. The parties disagreed over certain items and two of the three municipalities the force serves voted to disband the force.
Nugent said the new four-year contract includes wage increases of 3 percent in the first two years and a 4-percent increase for the final two years. The police union initially asked for a three-year contract with a 5-percent increase each year. Under the old contract, an entry-level officer earned about $44,000 a year.
In addition, the union asked for a 1-percent annual increase starting after an officer's fourth year on the force under longevity pay. Under the contract, a police officer will instead get a 0.25-percent increase annually after the fourth year.
Angela Chronister, an Oxford Township resident was one of the few at the meeting who wasn't a police officer or municipal official. She said she hopes this will be the last of the negotiations.
"I'm glad (the commission) is ready to have the contract signed," she said.
Bill McMaster, chairman of the Oxford Township Board of Supervisors, said he's glad the region still has a department.
"We're ready to move forward and have it work the way it's supposed to," he said.
The contract is a compromise that removes several sticking points, Nugent said. It eliminates a police union proposal that officers have their health care paid until they're eligible for Medicare.
Police union president Randy Reichert said the union didn't expect its initial offer would be approved, noting they aimed high. But a counteroffer wasn't immediately returned and the commission instead placed negotiations in the hands of attorneys.
Earle Black, a commission alternate and a Berwick Township supervisor, said he thinks the contract is fair to both sides and everyone can move on.
The commissioners didn't release the final cost of the new contract. Commission chairman Mike Noel said it was impossible to quote a price because Berwick Township hasn't approved the 2006 police budget. New Oxford Borough and Oxford Township have approved police budgets for 2006, Noel said.
After Berwick decides how much it will allocate, the police commission can prepare a new 2006 budget with the money it knows is available, Eisenhart said.
The commission plans to meet Wednesday for a workshop and begin retooling the budget.
Contact Seth Goldstein at sgoldstein@eveningsun.com.
Evening Sun Reporter
The Eastern Adams Regional Police Commission Wednesday accepted a new police contract hashed out between the commission and the union's attorneys without a third-party arbitrator.
After the meeting, Jim Eisenhart, vice chairman of the commission and mayor of New Oxford, said the costs of wages and benefits will go up 20 percent in the first year.
But he said the increase will not raise dramatically the overall cost of operating the department.
The police commission fired Chief Joe Dougherty in November. And since there are no plans to fill the position in the near future, Eisenhart said the new contract is close to what the commission projected in its tentative 2006 budget. That budget essentially revamped 2005 numbers to exclude a chief's salary and add cost-of-living increases for officers.
Newly appointed commission member Fred Nugent said Sgt. Mike Trostel will continue to handle everyday operations. The commission will handle administrative tasks.
The regional force has been working without a contract since Jan. 1. Negotiations began in May 2005 and were tense at times. The parties disagreed over certain items and two of the three municipalities the force serves voted to disband the force.
Nugent said the new four-year contract includes wage increases of 3 percent in the first two years and a 4-percent increase for the final two years. The police union initially asked for a three-year contract with a 5-percent increase each year. Under the old contract, an entry-level officer earned about $44,000 a year.
In addition, the union asked for a 1-percent annual increase starting after an officer's fourth year on the force under longevity pay. Under the contract, a police officer will instead get a 0.25-percent increase annually after the fourth year.
Angela Chronister, an Oxford Township resident was one of the few at the meeting who wasn't a police officer or municipal official. She said she hopes this will be the last of the negotiations.
"I'm glad (the commission) is ready to have the contract signed," she said.
Bill McMaster, chairman of the Oxford Township Board of Supervisors, said he's glad the region still has a department.
"We're ready to move forward and have it work the way it's supposed to," he said.
The contract is a compromise that removes several sticking points, Nugent said. It eliminates a police union proposal that officers have their health care paid until they're eligible for Medicare.
Police union president Randy Reichert said the union didn't expect its initial offer would be approved, noting they aimed high. But a counteroffer wasn't immediately returned and the commission instead placed negotiations in the hands of attorneys.
Earle Black, a commission alternate and a Berwick Township supervisor, said he thinks the contract is fair to both sides and everyone can move on.
The commissioners didn't release the final cost of the new contract. Commission chairman Mike Noel said it was impossible to quote a price because Berwick Township hasn't approved the 2006 police budget. New Oxford Borough and Oxford Township have approved police budgets for 2006, Noel said.
After Berwick decides how much it will allocate, the police commission can prepare a new 2006 budget with the money it knows is available, Eisenhart said.
The commission plans to meet Wednesday for a workshop and begin retooling the budget.
Contact Seth Goldstein at sgoldstein@eveningsun.com.
