POUGHKEEPSIE – The debate over when details of contract negotiations between the Poughkeepsie city administration and the PBA negotiating team is continuing as City Hall and some common council members have different recollections of what has taken place to date.
On April 30th, City Administrator Marc Nelson sent an email to council members Ann Feeney, Lorraine Johnson and Chris Petsas in an effort to arrange a meeting with administration to discuss a “Police retention” plan to address the shortfalls in the city’s police department, mainly a substantial shortage of officers.
A second request was made by Mayor Robert Rolison and Nelson on May 29th. At that time, Council Chairwoman Ann Finney agreed to a June 5th meeting. In her response Finney asked for supporting documentation for the plan to raise base salaries and attract more officers. Finney also requested that Police Chief Pape be present at the meeting.
Finney sent a second email indicating that she didn’t need the background information after all because she had nationwide statistics and would be sharing the information with the council. In his response Nelson pointed out that since January 2016 the police department lost 29 officers of which only 14 were due to retirement. Council Vice-Chairman Chris Petsas was one of the participants at the June 5th meeting which outlined the entire retention program.
According to Chief Pape, the retention plan that on which he has been collaborating since February will greatly improve public safety in the City of Poughkeepsie. In a recent address to the council Pape said “police are leaving – they’re leaving for higher paying jobs in neighboring communities. The sharp decline in staffing levels is a threat to public safety and a threat to police safety.” Currently a qualified new hire in the Town of Poughkeepsie Police Department starts at a salary $14,000 higher than he or she would receive in the city’s department.
According to the city PBA President Kevin Van Wagner, the new retention plan makes the city a little more attractive to new recruits and would cut the base salary disparity between the city and the town to approximately $6,000 difference.
The common council was set to approve the retention plan that had been overwhelmingly approved by the police union. At Monday’s meeting, prior to the public comment section, which eliminated the opportunity for the public and many of the police officers in attendance to be heard on the issue, Petsas made a motion to table the plan. According to the alderman, he made the motion because “the administration has been in talks with the PBA since February, but we received a memo with needed information only three weeks ago.”
That fact is disputed by the emails from Nelson to Petsas dated April 30th. Furthermore, according to Nelson, Petsas, the common council vice-chairman, was present at the June 5th meeting with council colleagues, Rolison, Nelson and Chief Pape.
The entire retention program was explained in the meeting that took just over an hour. Finney and Alderman Matthew McNamara voted against the tabling. When asked why, McNamara said that he had reached out to a few officers and Chief Pape and had his questions answered.
In defending his motion to Mid-Hudson News Petsas said “we’ve received calls from constituents raising some issues since this topic came to the council recently.” Petsas did not elaborate on the alleged issues.
PBA President Van Wagner urged the common council “to put politics aside, as it doesn’t matter which political party you represent, it is the public safety and the safety of the City of Poughkeepsie that should always be the priority.” Detective Chris Libolt, the union vice-president, indicated that members of the PBA had repeatedly offered to answer questions from the council on several occasions leading up to this past Monday’s tabling. Allegedly Petsas did not bring any concerns to the PBA.
According to Mayor Rolison who has been working on the plan, the time to act is now. The City is poised to put seven new recruits in a police academy that starts on August 20 and some of the new recruits are considering backing out if the plan is not approved soon. The recruits are considering careers in departments a little further away that come with a higher base salary and room for advancement within the department.
According to Rolison, the retention plan does more than increase the base salary for new hires but it will also help keep trained officers in the city as well as attracting officers from other departments. The mayor, himself a retired Town of Poughkeepsie police officer, remembers when the city police department was one in which recruits strove to get hired because of the opportunities for advancement. Divisions such as Community Policing and the Neighborhood Recovery Unit were just two of the many initiatives that have virtually been eliminated due to a lack of manpower.
If the council does not take action prior to the start of the next police academy, recruits may not be able to get into the class. The next available police academy isn’t scheduled until February of 2019. When recruits graduate, they do not immediately “hit the streets” by themselves, according to Van Wagner. When they start with the city, they spend several weeks with a Field Training Officer who mentors them on all aspects of police work including the nuances of the specific department.
A few statistics that the City of Poughkeepsie PBA have brought to the attention of Mid-Hudson News:
The City of Poughkeepsie Police Department is the lowest paid department in the region yet has the highest call volume.
By the year 2023, 38 of the current 76 sworn officers are eligible for retirement.
19 sworn officers are eligible to retire today.
3 current officers are in the process of leaving for other departments.
On the 4th of July, there were five police officers working in the city due to a manpower shortage.
There are currently only two officers and a supervisor working in the Traffic Division. The two officers work five days per week.
There are only three detectives and one supervisor assigned to the Narcotics unit tasked with curbing the city’s drug problem.
There aare four vacancies in the Detective Division that are remaining vacant due to a lack of manpower.
In five years, every detective in the division will be eligible for retirement.
