East Dundee approves cop contract

East Dundee village trustees this week approved the first-ever union contract between the village and members of its police force.

The unanimous decision Monday ratified a deal covering workplace standards, salaries and benefits for 12 of the department's officers and sergeants.

"This is a standard bargaining agreement between officers and sergeants and the village," Police Chief Terry Mee said.

The three-year contract, negotiated through the Metropolitan Alliance of Police, gives officers and sergeants a 4 percent pay hike in each of the first two years, followed by a 5 percent increase in the third year, Village Administrator Frank Koehler said. The contract is retroactive to May 1, 2008 and expires April 30, 2010.

Negotiations started soon after officers formed a collective bargaining group in late 2006, Mee said.

Village President Dan O'Leary said the agreement is the first of its kind for the village. No other village department has previously undertaken collective bargaining measures.

That could soon change, though, as the village's public works employees are expected to reach a union deal in the coming months, O'Leary said.