SAN GABRIEL VALLEY ELECTIONS : Police Pay Becomes Grist for Sierra Madre Campaign

Two years ago, Family Circle magazine placed this quiet foothills city on a list of “12 Great Safe Places to Live.” In their search for “safe-and-snug” suburbs that might appeal to families seeking a safe place to raise their children, the authors used FBI statistics and personal visits to rank Sierra Madre along with with such towns as Winthrop, Mass., and Whitefish Bay, Wis., where “there’s lots of good living and very little crime,” the article said.

Now, the 17 members of the police force are hoping to cash in on that distinction, saying that their efforts have contributed substantially to the city’s reputation as a nice, safe place to live. A big pay raise--one that would bring Sierra Madre officers’ salaries in line with those of the men in blue in surrounding cities--is in order, officers contend.

After four months of separate negotiations, the City Council denied that request in December, saying that the 6% raise that the 30 or so other municipal employees would receive starting in January was all the the city could afford. The police, who had asked for at least 10%, refused to accept that offer. An impasse was declared, and the council acted unilaterally to impose the 6% raise.

At the center of the pay dispute, which has become an issue in the April 8 municipal election, is the disparity between the salaries of Sierra Madre police officers and those in neighboring cities.

Salary Survey

Officer Stephen Abernethy, president of the Sierra Madre Police Assn., points to a September, 1985, salary survey by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department that put Sierra Madre officers at the bottom of a list of 47 police agencies in the county.

According to the survey, the average Sierra Madre police officer with 14 years of experience gets base pay of $2,150 per month. An officer with the same amount of experience on the highest-paid police force in the survey--the Santa Monica Police Department-- receives $3,411. Abernethy says officers in his department are seeking a hike that would bring them to the mid-range of pay--about $2,670 a month.

Although the council considers the subject closed for now, the police officers have not given up. They hope that their efforts to oust two incumbents will improve their position in future pay negotiations with the City Council.

“This obviously has turned into a political issue this year,” said Abernethy. “I thought perhaps this year, with the public input, they might be interested (in responding to demands). They haven’t been.”

There are three council seats at stake in the election. Mayor Charles I. Corp plans to step down when his term expires, vacating one council seat. And council members Thomas G. Edwards, who is seeking a fourth four-year term, and Lisa Fowler, who is ending her first term, are both seeking reelection.

Running against them are two former council members, Clem Bartolai and Elaine Rudolph, as well as newcomers Bruce Crow and Frank VanDongen.

The police association has not endorsed any candidates, but Abernethy said his group would prefer any of the challengers over the incumbents.

“None of the (present) council members will open their minds to any stated facts such as salary surveys or cost of living indexes,” Abernethy said.

Edwards contends that the police are being unfair in blaming them for the council’s action.

‘It Takes Three’

“You have to realize that it takes a majority of the council to do anything,” Edwards said. “There are only two of us, and it takes three to do anything.”

However, both Edwards and Fowler support the council’s decision to stick with the 6% raise and are disappointed that the pay dispute has become an election issue.

Fowler said the council had explored ways to come up with more money for the police, but that the city faces budget problems and 6% was the best it could offer.

“I’m sorry to see them at the bottom of the scale, and at some point, I’d like to see them at parity with surrounding cities,” Fowler said. “On the other hand, 6% was the best we could do under the circumstances.”

None of the challengers has made any commitment to future pay hikes for the officers. They say they need more budget information and input from the community before they can decide.

“I will take whatever facts are available on April 8 and I’ll make a decision,” said Rudolph, president of a financial consultant placement company. “I will make no promises.”

Defeated in 1982

Rudolph, who was defeated in the 1982 election after serving on the council from 1978 to 1982, said she does not think the election forum is an appropriate place to debate the police pay issue.

VanDongen, 47, owner of a fish market and a former president of the Chamber of Commerce, said he would like to see the current council resolve the police pay issue before the election. But if he is elected and the issue is still unresolved, he said he would set a meeting between the police and the council to try to reach an agreement.

“I think the council should solve this by itself,” VanDongen said.

Crow, 52, a section manager and engineer at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said the city should conduct its own salary survey to see if the police officers are getting a percentage of the city’s budget comparable to that spent for police protection in other similar-sized cities.

“The city owes it to themselves to run its own survey,” Crow said. “It should find out what percentages of the city’s resources are going to these various departments and look at that with respect to other cities.

“That way we can try to get a feel for whether or not we are paying our people poorly. Right now, we are reacting instead of having our own data base,” Crow said.

Says Small Cities Limited

Bartolai, 49, an administrative manager with a engineering firm who left the council after his 1980-1984 term to devote more time to a new job, said that he wished the police were paid more, but that a small city can only pay its employees so much.

“We just can’t afford tremendous increases,” Bartolai said. “The police equate their job with that of a Los Angeles policeman or a Glendale policeman, but there are different degrees of risk.”

The police officer’s association has taken the issue to the people by picketing council meetings, going door-to-door to deliver 2,500 pro-police pamphlets, and encouraging area residents to write the City Council as well as the town newspaper.

Although the police salary dispute has emerged as the dominant election issue, candidates are also concerned about maintaining the quality of life in Sierra Madre.

Bartolai would like to “make the dollars that we have stretch,” he said, explaining that the council should consider the possibility of using funds from one area of the city to help pay for another.

Both Crow, who has served on the library’s board of trustees and has worked with the city in its search for a computer system, and Rudolph also think more effort should go into long-term planning. Crow said he regards the police pay dispute as result of a deficiency in that area.

Called ‘Symptomatic’

“I think it’s symptomatic of an overall problem of a lack of long-term management,” Crow said. “If we had a long-term plan, maybe we could have addressed the problem when it was embryonic, instead of while they are picketing City Council meetings,” he said.

“They (the police) should not be in this situation,” said Rudolph, who refused to disclose her age. “Long-range planning is essential.”

VanDongen said having a local businessman on the council would serve the city well. He says his daily contact with patrons allows him to see what the people want from their City Council.

“They’re concerned about the paving of the streets, and the safety of the lights in the parking lots,” VanDongen said. “They want the city to remain as a community of homes, with condominiums and apartments on only certain main streets.”

VanDongen would also like to see quicker decision-making in the council, and more programs and facilities for the “new generation” and for senior citizens.

Would Not Comment

When asked about issues unrelated to the police pay dispute, Edwards chose not to comment.

Incumbent Fowler, 35, cited other concerns. She said she considers herself a “sort of trustee for preservation efforts” in the city, and would like to see it declared a historical district.

A staff assistant to the vice president of an aerospace research and development firm, Fowler also would like to see the city follow its general plan more carefully.

“I’m very interested in having the building standards maintained or reviewed or anything along that line,” Fowler said. “The ordinances and codes have to reflect a certain kind of building standard.”

She also envisions a plan under which the city would enter joint ventures with private companies to carry out some of the city’s plans. For example, she said, companies that use local roads might be asked to help pay for the maintenance of roads.