Police: Wages not only concern

Clovis Police Officers Association officials said Friday they want a conference with City Manager Raymond Mondragon as soon as possible to discuss whether or not some members of the city police department will be left out of a raise given to other city workers.

The Clovis Police Officers Association is made up of police employees trying to create a “bargaining unit” that would represent some police personnel in collective bargaining with the city.

City commissioners approved pay raises for city workers at their regular meeting June 3, but excluded, for now, personnel in the proposed bargaining unit.

Mondragon said he might be willing to meet with the association, but insisted that John Martinez, an Albuquerque labor relations specialist hired by the city, also would attend any meeting.

“We would rather meet with Ray Mondragon,” said Keith Farkas, the association’s vice president. “John Martinez really doesn’t have a vested interest. He doesn’t live in Clovis; his kids don’t go to school here. He’s pretty much just muscle from Albuquerque.”

The bargaining unit would include 60 police personnel, including lieutenants, sergeants, “sworn officers” and dispatchers. The association has obtained signatures on a petition requesting negotiations from 44 of those 60 people, Farkas said.

He denied that the main goal of the Clovis Police Officers Association is to get monetary increases. Instead, the association wants to help improve work conditions and the quality of life in the department, he said.

“We currently have officers leaving the department who don’t have another job lined up, because of the culture being created in the department,” he said.

In a document titled “Objectives for Negotiations,” association officials list four points they say “must be immediately addressed in order to bring resolution to the above mentioned state of emergency.” They are:

• The salary and benefits of the dispatchers and sworn members must be made competitive with the market, “while recognizing the uniqueness of the positions and responsibilities.”

• More supervisory positions must be created to address concerns regarding lack of experience. A minimum of three more supervisors is necessary within the patrol division considering the experience level that exits today, the objectives read.

• A commission must be formed that would have authority over issues regarding the police department, its personnel and policies. It would be the body to which the chief of police would be responsible. It would work with the city commission on departmental matters, including budget, and would be the body through which all inquiries by the commission about the operation of the police department would be made.

Members of the commission would be appointed to serve by a council consisting of a district court judge, a magistrate court judge, the municipal court judge, the district attorney, the director of the public defenders office, with one member selected through agreement between the police chief and the officers/dispatchers of the police department.

• A pay structure should be implemented that would have a “step format with separation between the ranks” to stop the common practice of supervisors being paid less than some of their subordinates.

There must also be recognition of “special positions” and the added responsibility of the positions, it reads.

Attorney Randall Harris, who represents the association, said the meeting with Mondragon would concern whether or not the bargaining unit members will be included in city raises, and, if so, what amount they would get.

Harris said association members have been told Clovis police officers are making between 25 percent and 35 percent less than what they should make. This information was confirmed by Mike Swallow of Personnel Systems and Services, who performed the city’s recent salary study, but Swallow said he couldn’t release that information because of his contractual obligations with the city.

The 25-percent-to-35-percent figure is larger that the 4-percent-to-12.5-percent increase city commissioners approved for other city employees, but Harris said his clients just want the information made public. Police officers may be entitled to special salary considerations, he added.

“With all respect to other city employees, police officers are different and their unique position has got to be assessed. When I leave my house every day, my wife doesn’t worry that she might not see me that evening,” he said.

Mondragon said city workers, including police, have received several raises and new benefits since he’s been city manager. But, he refused to discuss the police officers association’s statements or salary requests Friday, saying, “I refuse to negotiate in the media.”

Police Chief Bill Carry also refused to comment.