Date: Fri 21-Nov-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

police-union-reorganization

Full Text:

Town Reaches Agreement With Police Union Over Department Reorganization

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

The police union and the town have reached a settlement resolving the labor

grievance the union filed last summer after the Police Commission reorganized

the police department.

The settlement marks a truce in an effort to resolve internal strife in the

police department.

Last August, at the recommendation of Police Chief James E. Lysaght, Jr, the

Police Commission reorganized the police department, giving the department's

captain authority over daily operations of the patrol division and detective

division, and also eliminating one of two lieutenant positions. The

reorganization also transferred supervision of routine detective division work

from a lieutenant to a sergeant.

The police union protested the reorganization, filing the labor grievance with

the town, charging that the action violated the police labor contract because

it changed police working conditions without labor negotiations and because

the union was not consulted before the reorganization.

In the grievance, the union states the Police Commission eliminated

bargaining-unit positions, changed duties, altered job titles, and modified

hours of employment without advising or consulting with the union. Through the

grievance process, the union sought to rapidly negotiate with the town on the

impact the changes would have department working conditions.

Following the August reorganization, the police union publicly questioned

Chief Lysaght's management abilities and called for his ouster and

replacement.

Settlement

The reorganization results in Acting Captain Owen Carney heading the police

department's new operations bureau where he will oversee: the patrol division

comprised of five sergeants and 23 patrol officers; the detective division,

including one supervisory sergeant and six officers; the auxiliary officer

unit containing two officers; and the animal control unit, consisting of one

animal control officer and one dog poundkeeper.

Before the reorganization, Mr Carney, as a lieutenant, headed the detective

bureau and its six members.

Acting Captain Carney will be supervised by Chief Lysaght. Chief Lysaght

answers to the Police Commission.

The organizational changes result in Lt David Lydem heading the new

administrative/support services bureau. In that capacity, he will work in the

areas of budgeting, training, equipment inventory, policies, procedures,

research, planning, purchasing, traffic, evidence, property, records

supervision, and dispatcher supervision.

The administrative lieutenant receives a one-time pay increase and will be

eligible for overtime if he's ordered in to work.

Before the reorganization, Captain Michael Fekete was the administrative

captain, handling duties similar to those now handled by Lt Lydem. Capt Fekete

is on an extended leave of absence.

The reorganization means Sgt Henry Stormer is transferred from the patrol

division to the detective division, where he will supervise the detective unit

on a day-to-day basis. The assignment is not a promotion, but the person

serving in that capacity uses the title detective sergeant.

The detective sergeant receives a pay increase, a schedule change, and must be

on call at all times.

The settlement reached between the town and the police union also requires

that a lieutenant's examination be held before July 1, 1998 to create an

eligibility list for the post. Such a process for promoting someone to the

rank of lieutenant has not existed until now.

The union grievance was negotiated in recent weeks by First Selectman Robert

Cascella, Chief Lysaght, and Det Sgt Stormer, who is the police union

president. It was signed by Mr Cascella, Chief Lysaght, and Robert Koetsch,

the police union treasurer who is a member of the union's executive board.

Cascella Comments

The Police Commission was within its rights in reorganizing the police

department, Mr Cascella said Tuesday. The union also was within its rights to

grieve the reorganization and its impact on its membership, he said.

"These things are never easy," the first selectman said, noting the settlement

is broad in scope. He termed the agreement "a very, very positive thing" and

noted that now "they can get back to police business."

Mr Cascella termed the restructuring as "a more realistic organization in

terms of levels of responsibility being equal to the rank of an officer,"

noting that the reorganization more clearly defines the department's "layers

of management."

Other police union grievances are still pending, but they are not directly

related to the police department reorganization.

Lysaght's Reaction

"The union, the department, and the town have come to a negotiated agreement

of their differences," Chief Lysaght said at a dual press conference also

attended by Det Sgt Stormer.

The agreement stemmed from meaningful discussions, not from broadsides fired

in the press, the chief said.

The administrative and organizational aspects of the reorganization were

enacted by the Police Commission, and the collective bargaining aspects of the

reorganization were then resolved through the negotiations between the town

and the police union, he said.

"History is heavy in the department ... but new points of view have to be

represented," the chief said of the reorganization.

Much specialized training has been provided to officers since he assumed

command in July 1996, Chief Lysaght said. Two officers have been promoted to

sergeant and a third promotion to sergeant is anticipated, he said.

Chief Lysgaht said it has been a period of "incredible vitalization."

The chief said he would like to see the department create a new rank known as

"master patrol officer," perhaps similar in nature to that of "corporal" or

"state trooper first class" to signify excellence in patrol work.

"I want to put my best and brightest out in a patrol car," he said.

The department's reorganization will remain in place for the foreseeable

future, he said, adding he doesn't rule out any future reorganizations based

on changing circumstances.

Chief Lysaght said the reorganization was made to streamline the department

and make it more efficient.

The authority, responsibility, and rank of an officer should be based upon the

complexity of his role, the chief said. In the new organization, the person

holding the rank of captain is in charge of the largest number of people,

except for the chief, the chief said.

"What you see now is a more reasonable, professional approach to assignment of

rank, authority and responsibility," Chief Lysaght said.

The whole idea behind the reorganization is to improve the lines of

communication between the detective division and the patrol division, he said.

In his role as acting captain, Mr Carney is responsible for ensuring the

smooth functioning of the two divisions, the chief said.

The union labor contract does not specify that the town has to negotiate the

impact of a reorganization on officers before that reorganization is approved

by the Police Commission, the chief maintained.

Cost savings resulting from the reorganization will be used to place more

officers on road patrols, the chief said.

The department is currently short four officers, resulting from the departures

of patrol officers Clayton Brown, Richard B. Stook, and Sgt Klaus Ertl, plus

one position that has never been filled. Work is underway to fill those jobs.

Also, Captain Fekete, who is on extended leave, may retire.

The Union's

`Best Interests'

Earlier Tuesday, Det Sgt Stormer, the union president, said the police

department has experienced many problems recently.

"I felt it was in the union's best interests, as did the union's attorney, to

attempt a [local] settlement of the grievance," he said.

"I believe that this settlement ... [is] not the best, but the town didn't get

everything it wanted, either," he said.

"It's a legal document. It scuttles the grievance. However, signing a piece of

paper doesn't make all the other issues go away," Det Sgt Stormer said, noting

police morale is low.

"There's been a lot of change in the department in a year [concerning]

personnel, organization, and management styles," he said. "No one's happy. But

at this point, [the agreement] was the best for all concerned."

"I really believe this whole reorganizational plan will have to be revamped

and will be found to need change," he said.

"Many union members feel the union betrayed them by settling [the] issue with

the town, but based on advice from our attorney, ... it is better to settle a

grievance at the local level than to put faith in the [Connecticut Board of

Mediation and Arbitration] because you just don't know what they're going to

do," the union president said.

The union has regretted the settlements of some grievances it submitted to

that state agency for resolution, he said, adding a state settlement of the

grievance could have taken up to two years.

"This reorganization destroyed career paths," he said. In the past, five

police sergeants vied for two lieutenant's posts, he said. In the future, six

sergeants will be vying for one lieutenant's post, he observed.

Some younger patrol officers are asking why they should continue working in

Newtown when the best rank they can hope to reach is sergeant, Det Sgt Stormer

said.

"We will not tolerate having stuff shoved down our throat again," he said.

About a dozen of the 33 union members are unhappy because the union settled

the grievance with the town, in light of the way in which the reorganization

happened, Det Sgt Stormer said.

The union president maintains that the Police Commission planned the

reorganization at sessions that were illegal under the terms of the state

Freedom of Information Act.

Later Tuesday, at the dual press conference with Chief Lysaght, Det Sgt

Stormer said the union's lawyer informed him the town must negotiate with the

union before reorganizing the department not after reorganizing it.

"We are very unhappy we were forced to negotiate after the fact," he said.

If the Police Commission takes similar actions in the future, the union will

seek a court injunction to stop it, Det Sgt Stormer said.