Prospect Hts. council backs cop layoffs
Six months shy of his 14-year anniversary with the Prospect Heights Police Department, Todd Godair was forced to look for a new job Monday.
Godair was among six patrol officers laid off Sunday, dropping the number of sworn officers in Prospect Heights from 21 to 15.
On Monday night, the city council voted unanimously to concur.
Godair said Mayor Dolly Vole notified the six officers Thursday they would be laid off effective 6 a.m. Saturday. Yet, two of the officers, including Godair, were recalled to work Saturday and Sunday nights because there weren't enough officers to staff the department, he said.
“I think this was handled very poorly,” Godair said. “I think it was handled without a lot of thought ... everything from the safety of the remaining police officers, as well as the well-being of the residents of Prospect Heights.
“Quite frankly, the department can't function with 15 police officers, especially not safely.”
A year ago, city officials imposed mandatory furloughs of 30 days a year on every city employee. The Metropolitan Alliance of Police, the union representing police, filed a grievance, saying the furloughs violated their contract with the city.
An arbitrator ruled in the union's favor, saying that because furloughs were not part of the contract, they must stop. Layoffs are contractually permitted, however, and the arbitrator waived the 90-day notice for layoffs.
City attorney Mike Zimmermann, speaking on behalf of the mayor and council, said furloughs were an attempt by the city council to keep as many jobs as possible while protecting services.
“(The arbitrator's) decision makes it clear the only recourse are layoffs,” Zimmermann said. “With snowballing costs the city council has chosen to do a reduction in force. The police department still exists and will continue to serve.”
Alderman Richard Hamen expressed regret about the layoffs but said it was a “decision we had to make.”
At Monday's meeting Vole had a heated back-and-forth with Jerry Meyer, who was acting mayor when the police force was instituted about 20 years ago. Meyer chastised Vole and the council for opposing home rule and a police protection tax put to voters in 2009.
Vole countered she had lobbied for the police protection tax, which failed in a referendum. She also said after the meeting that she had held an unbiased meeting about home rule even though she personally opposed it.
Vole said when the police department was started in 1990 a sustainable method of financing should have been instituted.
William Caponigro, an officer who also was laid off, said after the arbitrator ruling the union believed it had an agreement to keep the furloughs in place until Nov. 13 and continue negotiating. He also said the union had proposed cuts in longevity pay and holiday pay that would produce the savings the city needed, but the administration insisted on keeping furloughs consistent across the city.
But Vole added that the furloughs weren't saving the money the city expected they would, because officers were being brought back to work for overtime duty.
Union officials said the city has not negotiated with the union in good faith to avoid layoffs, pointing to a news release the city sent Oct. 29 announcing they had a deal with the union on furloughs.
“There was never any agreement reached,” said Rick Tracy, a member of the union's executive board. “The union agreed to temporarily allow the city to furlough people from Nov. 2 to Nov. 13 and that would give us time to sit down and talk to the city.”
Union officials say that meeting never happened.
“The union's going to file whatever litigation we can through the Illinois Labor Relations Board,” Tracy said. “We don't believe the six layoffs were necessary.”
The union has charged that the money being saved by laying off six officers is much greater than what was being saved through furloughs. Vole said Monday she could not address the discrepancy at that moment.
“We are re-evaluating,” she said. “Straight time and overtime are way over budget.”
The union has two outstanding grievances on the furloughs and a couple of related unfair labor practice complaints that are pending, which officials now intend to pursue.
Tracy said the other outstanding issue is the city's police officers have been working without a contract since April 30, 2009, and there have been no talks on the matter for a while.
“We're going to force the city back to the negotiating table for contract negotiations,” Tracy said.
Meanwhile, the police department's new leadership is grappling with the changes after the abrupt departure of veteran Police Chief Bruce Morris on Oct. 27, two days after the city council discussed potential layoffs.
“I've got to basically start the whole operation over from scratch,” said Al Steffen, who returned from vacation Monday to find himself promoted from commander to acting police chief.
Steffen said he still is awaiting direction from city hall on some decisions, and deflected questions to the mayor's office.
“What I'm trying to do is make sure that Prospect Heights gets the best bang for what we got left, and get officers on the street and give citizens the best coverage that we can at this point,” Steffen said. “The city gives me the mission. It's my job to try to carry it out with the staff and resources we have available.”
Union officials question how a city of 17,000 residents can be served with just 15 officers.
“I have no idea how they are going to staff the police department,” Tracy said. “It's a relatively busy community and they are going to have some major problems with service because of the staffing.”
Godair said before layoffs, three officers would patrol the streets during weekdays and four on weeknights. On weekends, four officers would patrol the streets during the day, and five worked nights.
In the past year, the department also has lost staff through attrition one retirement, two resignations, and one on medical disability leave.
“None of them were ever replaced,” Godair said. “Now part of the problem is they've literally gone down to three officers on each shift. If anybody calls in sick or if anybody is on vacation, they are obviously going to have to hire someone to fill the vacancy or pay overtime. The officers are going to just get burned out.”
The department also has lost a lot of its younger staff in the layoffs, and a majority of the officers left behind are roughly 5 to 10 years from being eligible for retirement.
Still, Steffen was optimistic about the department's future.
“If everybody pulls together, I think we can do it,” Steffen said. “A lot of us have been here 20 years, and we were looking forward to pass that on to the next generation.
“But now it's coming upon us to continue doing a good job on a daily basis and we need to do it together.”