SAN ANGELO, TX — The Sept. 30 end to the Meet and Confer contract resulted in the loss of three part-time police officers who have been dedicated to serving the Department and community for many years.
Robert Lloyd, who was originally hired in September 1974, retired in August 2003. Lloyd returned in 2009 as a part-time officer assigned to the Department’s Pawn Unit where he has helped recover several hundred thousand dollars in stolen property for San Angelo residents.
John Palmer, who was originally hired in September 1980, retired in February 2007. Palmer returned in 2008 as a part-time officer assigned to the Department’s Traffic Section where he has assisted with hundreds of vehicle crashes, traffic enforcement, and traffic control and escorts for countless events in our community.
Jim Coleman, who was originally hired in 1981, left the Department in 1988 to begin a career with U.S. Customs and Homeland Security, where he served 24 years. Coleman returned to our Department in 2012 as a part-time Investigator assigned to the Department’s Cold Case Section. Coleman will be staying on as an unpaid Reserve Officer, continuing his work on San Angelo’s fifteen cold cases.
Meet and Confer negotiations broke down in early September over the issue of step raises for tenure demanded by the San Angelo Coalition of Police. The City of San Angelo staff would not budge on their position that in order to pay for the increased payroll, they requested SACOP find money in the existing proposed FY2018 SAPD budget. SACOP walked out of the negotiations.
City council will decide if the City should continue with Meet and Confer in the next fiscal year. In the meantime, rules are that the current contract expires and workplace agreement reverts to 2009. Under the 2009 agreement, there are no part-time police officer billets and assistant chief billets are reduced from three to two. Also, SAPD officers no longer have a physical fitness program.
Assistant Chief Robert Martinez retired as a result. His farewell is scheduled for Friday.
The SAPD stated, “These officers’ work has had a profound impact on our Department and their experience and expertise will be sorely missed.”
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Now hopefully about 1/3 of the departments younger officers who came here for the job but have no ties to San Angelo will realize that the city has solidly drawn a line in the sand that there will be no more pay or benefit increases over the next several years which will allow a mass exodus of highly trained, highly invested in Officer to pursue jobs that will welcome to a new city and PAY them for their services that learned here how to provide........
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PermalinkI have seen quite a bit of negative comments about this topic lately. While I appreciate everything our San Angelo police officers due everyday, where is the money suppose to come from for the step pay increases. Everybody wants to be down on the city because they say they can't/won't have step increases this year, but how are they suppose to pay for it. Increase property taxes again? That's not an acceptable solution to me. My father is a retired police officer so I have nothing but respect for the officers who put on their uniforms everyday, but when the money isn't there, the money isn't there. My dad went 8 years without a pay raise and even when he got a 24% raise in pay over 2 years he was still below the cost of living. Maybe when the state actually starts helping the city pay for all the death penalty cases San Angelo has then the city will have the money. Until then put on your uniform and be grateful you have a job. Too many people in town have lost theirs lately. Also while I am sorry the 3 officers lost their jobs, they all have retirements per the article. So they do have income coming in.
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PermalinkI don't think the city pays for these cases. I think the County does. However, what I would add is that the city does a lot of non-critical things (read pet projects) with monies that could be used for critical things.
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PermalinkPayes1997 you ask where is the money supposed to come from and rule out a tax increase. Nobody likes tax increases and there are certainly waste and cost overruns in the current city budget. That said, a tax increase of .0002 would yield sufficient money for a revised pay schedule for police officers and all other city employees. The City Council really needs to bite the bullet and understand you have to pay for what you get.
Having police officers transfer to higher paying locations is not the answer. You point out that even with a 24% increase your dad was still below the cost of living. That is ridiculous.
The city charter restricts the number of assistant chiefs to two. It should either have been increased to three or never agreed to a "temporary" position. Staffing within the police department is below recommend levels based on several sources.
As regards the three officers that lost their jobs. The only retirement that have is what they earned from previous employment.
The cost of criminal court trials is absorbed by the county, not the city. Of course, we are paying county taxes but that has nothing to do with the city or their underpaid employees.
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