VERO BEACH — City Council members ducked behind closed doors and out of the public spotlight and live television Tuesday after Councilman Jay Kramer expressed concern about the potential demotions of nine officers should the union fail to agree to the terms of the proposed contract.
The council has the legal right to go into executive session to address bargaining matters.
But before the council ducked out of the chamber, City Councilwoman Tracy Carroll and Councilman Dick Winger expressed that the city manager was in charge, suggesting that the council needs to allow him to do his job and not butt in.
Earlier this year, O’Connor came up with the plan that would bump three least senior lieutenants down to sergeants. That would set off a chain reaction of reducing pay and ranks of nine members of the police department for a savings of about half of the $200,000 that O’Connor is saying needs to be cut from the budget.
That plan was initially met with resistance by the City Council who at the time suggested that he find another way to slash the budget.
In the end, O’Connor then came up with an either or plan: Make changes to the overtime and holiday pay policies as well as have officers contribute more to their pension plans so that the city doesn’t have to or have nine members take cuts in pay.
The pay cuts run from a few thousand a year to as high as about $17,000.
The union overwhelmingly rejected the latter plan in September and the rank reductions were to have taken place on Monday.
Instead on Monday, members of the union’s bargaining unit met with the city’s outside council and suggested that there is a possibility that the union may change its mind and agree to the terms of the contract with new changes that would eliminate two paid holidays, though one would be paid in compensatory time and would also give compensatory time to an officer whose day off falls on a holiday.
It didn’t appear that a majority of council members aligned themselves with Kramer as the executive session lasted only minutes and O’Connor said the same conditions are in place.
If the union, which is voting again later this week does not agree to the contract, the rank reductions will take place on Oct. 7, O’Connor said following the executive session.
