Round Lake police receive 3-year deal

Round Lake police officers and sergeants will receive raises under a new three-year contract.

Trustees voted 6-0 in favor of the deal Monday evening. The patrol officers and sergeants, who belong to the Metropolitan Alliance of Police union, ratified the deal before it was presented to the village board for approval.

Under a 1-year contract extension that ran until May 1, 2011, Round Lake police didn’t receive a raise in exchange for a no-layoff guarantee.

But under the new contract, the officers and sergeants will receive 2 percent raises each year, Mayor James Dietz said. He said the three-year deal is retroactive to May 1, 2011.

Dietz said the contract terms were agreed on after both sides met recently. He said the main reason the police were without a contract for a year was because union officials and village representatives had difficulties finding mutually agreeable times to meet to forge a new deal.

Police officers and sergeants no longer are the only Round Lake employees represented by a union. Dietz said public works employees voted to join a union in December, but talks on a contract have yet to occur.

Two new Round Lake police officers were sworn in at Monday night’s village board meeting, filling a corresponding number of open spots, Dietz said. The village has 22 sworn officers.