POUGHKEEPSIE – At the end of a marathon-length council meeting Monday night, the common council passed a four-year contract with the city’s police union, the PBA. The vote occurred after Council Chair Sarah Salem had removed the contract from the agenda earlier in the day.
The council previously voted down the contract in an attempt to re-negotiate the agreement. That action led to the PBA filing charges of bad-faith negotiating against the city.
Salem had pulled the resolution from the agenda Monday, telling Mid Hudson News “We didn’t receive an updated Fiscal Impact Statement (FIS) corresponding to the new terms of the contract with any time to review it before tonight.” That reasoning was rebuffed by City Administrator Marc Nelson on Monday evening, when he said “The FIS was first provided to the Common Council on October 28, 2020. Subsequent amendments to the proposed contract remain confidential, but I can tell you that they do not add further costs to the city. To clarify this, the Finance Commissioner has today (Monday) provided the Council with an Addendum to the FIS.”
Late in the night on Monday Councilmember Yvonne Flowers secured the votes to reconsider the contract resolution. After much debate and maneuvering between members of the council, the vote to ratify the contract was approved with five lawmakers, Yvonne Flowers, Natasha Cherry, Chris Petsas, Lorraine Johnson, and Matt McNamara, voting in favor of the agreement. Salem, Brannen, Menist, and Randall Johnson abstained from casting a vote.
