Prospect Heights mayor: City tried to avoid cop layoffs
The reduction in force at the Prospect Heights Police Department that officials hinted at Friday will transpire Sunday, when the city lays off six veteran patrol officers, Mayor Dolores “Dolly” Vole said.
The layoffs -- including officers with tenures ranging from two to 10 years -- resulted from the inability of city officials and union representatives to reach an agreement over the city's proposal to institute furloughs. Officials have informed all of the officers involved in the layoffs, Vole said.
Officers had agreed to take furloughs in place of layoffs, but officials with the Metropolitan Alliance of Police, the union representing the rank-and-file, rejected the deal, Vole said.
The city “negotiated in good faith” to avoid layoffs, Vole said.
“The MAP executives were the ones who refused to sign,” she said. “The union isn't representing their members. They're thinking of themselves.”
“We're trying to save jobs and the MAP executive board doesn't care,” she added.
Jerry Marzullo, the attorney who represents MAP, said the officers' contract allows for a reduction in force only through layoffs, and not through furloughs, which he said the union explained to city officials more than a year ago when it filed its grievance.
The city could have “gotten their finances in order,” Marzullo said, to avoid layoffs that he characterized as “the price everyone has to pay for the city's shortsightedness.”
Marzullo also disputes Vole's claim that MAP officials are to blame for the impasse, saying many issues arose during negotiations.
“It was not as simple as the mayor would like the citizens to believe,” said Marzullo, who declined to get into specifics citing possible future negotiations. “What is improper is for the mayor to simplify what took place and to point the finger at the union and make us look like the bad guys.”
The layoffs will reduce the force from 21 to 15, said Vole, who claims the reductions cut the department's manpower to 1990 levels.
“I feel horrible for the officers who lost their jobs,” Vole said. “The safety and welfare of our officers and our residents is most important to me. This was not an easy decision.”
“We've done what we could. We just don't have the money,” she said referencing voters' rejection of a police protection tax and the denial of the city's application for funding from the COPS Hiring Recovery Program.
Among the union's primary concern is the layoffs occuring in a reasonable and legal manner, Marzullo said, adding the union may pursue legal action to ensure it does.
Both sides insist they are willing to meet to resolve the issue.
“The union always has been and always will be open to a reasonable settlement (between) the parties,” Marzullo said. “Everybody wants to see the citizens of Prospect Heights protected.”