Santa Ana Manager Gets Vote of No Confidence

The Santa Ana Police Benevolent Assn., locked in a bitter contract dispute with the city, voted overwhelmingly against City Manager David N. Ream in a confidence vote, association president Sgt. Donald Blankenship said Thursday.

Of the 407 members who responded to ballots sent out about 10 days ago, 401, or nearly 98%, said they had no confidence in Ream’s ability to manage the city. Six members voted for Ream, Blankenship said, while 24 ballots were not returned.

“The overwhelming vote of no confidence is the culmination of months of frustration by the PBA members over the lack of an equitable police contract and Ream’s inflexibility in adjusting priorities,” said Blankenship. “Mr. Ream has been a major obstacle in reaching a fair and equitable conclusion to our current wage negotiations.”

The association’s contract with the city expired June 30. The group represents all sworn officers through the rank of sergeant and some non-sworn personnel as well.

Blankenship said Ream continually misrepresents the association’s wage demands and refused to give the city’s negotiator authority to bargain, thus making further talks right now pointless.

The association, Blankenship noted, has come down from its original demand of a 24.9% increase for sergeants and now is asking for about a 16.9% raise. An 11.9% increase for officers that has been sought all along “is flexible,” Blankenship said.

Ream acknowledged that the city has not moved from its original offer of a 4.5% raise this year and 4% next year. But he charged the association with breaking off negotiations last August and said the city “has always looked forward to resuming negotiations.”

The association’s current demands are still unreasonable, Ream said, because the 16.9% increase asked for sergeants would throw the city’s salary classifications out of whack.