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National
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Orange County
(CA): 01-28-09: California Officers Fight for Overtime
Galveston:
01-13-09: Police union agrees to pay cut
Galveston:
01-10-09: Police union 4 votes shy of accepting pay cut
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National NEWS STORIES & OTHER NEWS SOURCES
01-28-09: Orange County
California Officers Fight for Overtime
The
five officers rescued an 84-year-old woman from fire
Posted: Wednesday,
January 28, 2009
KIMBERLY EDDS
The Orange County Register (California)
Five
Cypress police officers are being called heroes after they rescued an 84-year-old
woman from a burning house. The men will be honored for their bravery at tonight's
City Council meeting. "I think the officers were just wonderful,"
said 84-year-old Eleanor Jensen, who is living in a hotel with her 16-year-old
dog, Sarah Jane, after the Nov. 25 fire destroyed her home. But in the
two months since the fire, the five officers and the Cypress Police Officers Association,
which represents them, have been trying to get paid for the hours they spent being
treated for smoke inhalation and being interviewed by arson investigators. The
city has spent hundreds of dollars in legal fees fighting a total of $778.48 spread
among the five men. "We want to pay these guys," said Cypress
Mayor Doug Bailey. "We definitely want to pay them." But payment
comes with a catch, according to a Dec. 11 letter from City Manager John B. Bahorski
to Mark Clemons, president of the officers union. The overtime will not be paid
unless Clemons signs a letter stating Cypress has no legal obligation to pay officers
while they were treated for the injuries they suffered during the rescue and that
payment by the city does not set a precedent. The letter will not be signed,
Clemons said. "It has nothing to do with the money," Clemons
said. "It's about the treatment." Cypress police officers Paul
Ruiz, James Brewer, Erik Carlson and officer trainees Brock Paul and Thomas Mellana
were about an hour from the end of their shifts when a two-story home on Windsor
Circle caught fire. They found a woman wandering around inside the smoke-filled
house and no firefighters. The officers broke a window, broke through the door
and carried the disoriented woman out. The five officers spent more than
four hours beyond their normal 12 1/2 -hour shifts dealing with the fallout of
the fire, including treatment for smoke inhalation. All of them returned
to the police station after they left the hospital. Police Department officials,
including Chief Mark Yokoyama, approved the overtime. But Bahorski overruled
his decision, saying the city legally does not have to pay the officers for time
they spent being treated for their injuries. Overtime was approved for
the supervising sergeant responsible for writing a memo to department leaders
about the fire. The medical treatment was part of a 16 1/2 -hour day the
officers put in as part of their duties, Clemons said. Refusal to pay them without
strings attached sends a negative message to officers and the public about the
city's priorities, he said. Bahorski did not respond to requests for interviews
for this story. He did not immediately respond to public-record requests for a
copy of the Dec. 11 letter. In a copy of the letter obtained by The Orange
County Register, Bahorski argues why the city does not have to pay the five injured
officers: "It has been interpreted that 'medical attention outside
of working hours, or not at the direction of the employer' is an example of work-related
matters for which an employee need not be compensated. Accordingly, there is no
state or federal requirement that the City compensate the officers under the circumstances
as are present here." "With this kind of job, which we do with
great pride, I hope that these issues do not distract from what these five people
did," Clemons said. "They put themselves at risk for one person, a citizen
of Cypress."
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01-13-09: Galveston
Police
union agrees to pay cut
By Chris Paschenko
The Daily News
Published
January 13, 2009 GALVESTON - Members of Galveston's police union have agreed
to accept a 3 percent pay cut, paving the way for the city to save $600,000 in
wages amid a hurricane-induced budget crisis. Although the voting deadline
isn't until Tuesday, a majority of the 152 union members already had agreed to
the salary reduction Friday, said Jimmy De Los Santos, Galveston Municipal Police
Association president.
As of Monday afternoon, 92 members approved the measure
with only one vote against, De Los Santos said. "We understand and
want to do our part," De Los Santos said. "I live here. I'm a BOI. (Born
On the Island). We want the city to bounce back." Hurricane Ike made
landfall in Galveston County on Sept. 13, causing widespread flooding and damaging
much of the coast, prompting city officials to predict revenue from property and
sales taxes to be less than originally budgeted for the fiscal year that began
Oct. 1. The city council must vote on the measure for it to take effect,
De Los Santos said. In December negotiations, the city believed the union
had approved the pay cut, but De Los Santos said the union reached a consensus
on the measure and scheduled a vote on the specific language of the cuts. The
seven-day voting period ends today. The cuts would affect all city employees,
but the police salaries were set by contract, meaning officers had to agree to
the cuts. Even if the council agrees to the cuts, City Manager Steve LeBlanc
said he would re-evaluate between April and June whether layoffs are necessary
to balance the budget.
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01-10-09: Galveston
Police
union 4 votes shy of accepting pay cut
By Chris Paschenko
The Galveston
County Daily News
Published January 10, 2009 GALVESTON - A 3 percent
pay cut, thought to have been approved by police union members last week, might
not be the only income deficit facing Galveston officers this year. Although
city officials thought last week the union agreed to the pay cut, its president,
Jimmy De Los Santos, said there was no official vote taken. The Galveston Municipal
Police Association merely reached a consensus on the matter, he said. City
Manager Steve LeBlanc said he was disappointed after learning of the revelation
in a Tuesday meeting with the union. "Apparently, they didn't have
a vote on the issue and represented that they had," LeBlanc said. "I'm
very disappointed that the (consensus) was unofficial." The 152-member
union was on Thursday afternoon four votes shy of a majority approval of the cut,
which would help the city's bottom line in a post-Hurricane Ike budget crunch.
$600,000 In Savings A 3 percent across-the-board cut represents
$600,000 in savings to city coffers, LeBlanc said. The police union has
until Tuesday to vote on the pay cut, De Los Santos said. But while the final
tally would not be available until Tuesday, a majority of the union members had
by Friday voted to accept the pay cut, he said. The vote comes at a time
when Police Chief Charles Wiley is pursuing a department policy that could substantially
restrict what jobs officers are allowed to work while off-duty. Tops among that
off-duty restriction could be lucrative bar-security jobs. "I tried
to explain to Steve that what we had and what the members want wasn't in agreement,"
De Los Santos said of the Tuesday meeting. Officers want unrestricted the ability
to earn extra income while off-duty. An October brawl at the upscale H20
bar in the San Luis Hotel, 5222 Seawall Blvd., involving Galveston police and
patrons is not the reason for the policy, Wiley said, noting he would have proposed
it anyway. Internal Investigation Three officers are probing
the brawl in an internal investigation that involves 30 other officers, Wiley
said. Some officers will likely be disciplined, Wiley said, noting no off-duty
job is worth disciplinary measures. Wiley has yet to finalize the proposal
that would limit off-duty work. He is against the idea of allowing police
to continue to work in establishments that derive the majority of their income
from alcohol. "It is high risk, high liability, and does nothing for
the image of the agency," Wiley said. "They, in effect, are working
as bouncers and there are other off-duty jobs, that are less demeaning for us
in an era where we really need to improve our image." Lawsuits related
to officers in bar brawls have already cost taxpayers dearly and come at too high
a price for taxpayers, LeBlanc said. Seeking Input Wiley
is seeking input on the policy from employees, saying he didn't expect a finalized
policy soon. "There are officers that dislike this proposal, and I
regret that but it's not their responsibility to effect change in this police
department; it's mine," Wiley said. "I take that responsibility seriously,
and ultimately those who oppose such changes will understand the need to do so.
If not, this may not be the place for them to work in the future." Although
the city hasn't laid off employees, the pay cut may not be enough to guarantee
future layoffs, LeBlanc said. With the pay cut, LeBlanc said layoffs wouldn't
be eminent, but he would review the matter, possibly sometime between April and
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