LITH fires two cops, demotes sergeant

Lake in the Hills has laid off two police officers and demoted a sergeant in response to an arbitrator ordering the village to enact a police union-supported pay scale increase.

Contract negotiations dragged on for nearly two years over the pay increase issue and included sessions with federal mediators until the arbitrator stepped in.

The village argued that the slumping economy meant officers should accept less money and said the union's demands were not in “the interests and welfare of the public.”

The village offered a proposal that:

Ÿ In the first year offered a 3.5-percent wage increase on the officer's anniversary of service, no raise in base pay and no step increase for officers, documents said. Officers no longer qualify for the step program after eight years.

Ÿ In the second year, there would be no increase in the base salary and no movement on the step plan.

Ÿ In the third year, the village was willing to reopen negotiations.

But the Metropolitan Alliance of Police Chapter 90, which represents the 32 sworn officers under the rank of sergeant, requested:

• Wages increase for police officers in the step program: $3,738 for the first year of the contract, $3,987 for the second, and $4,242 for the third year.

• Base pay remain frozen at $49,778 for the life of the agreement.

In October, arbitrator Harvey A. Nathan ordered that the village accept the union's proposal, since it mirrored past agreements between the two parties.

“This is a case where the arbitrator must choose from the lesser of two bad proposals,” Nathan wrote. “Because the union's proposal maintains some similarity to its place among the accepted comparables ... the finding is that the union's proposal is more appropriate.”

The ruling is binding and cannot be overturned.

As a result, the village laid off two officers based on seniority and demoted a sergeant to patrol officer.

Ed Plaza, village president for 10 years, said the village has never laid officers off on his watch.

He also said Nathan made an “erroneous decision” in a “vacuum.”

“The arbitrator decided based on history, which doesn't take into consideration economic factors,” Plaza said. “Unions are becoming a bit of a problem.”

Representatives from the Lake in the Hills police union did not respond to repeated requests for an interview.

The three-year contract is retroactive to May 1, 2009, and expires April 30, 2012.