Simi Police Union Reaches Tentative Pact With City

The Simi Valley police union reached a tentative contract agreement with the city Wednesday night, apparently ending a three-week deadlock, but details were not made public.

An emergency meeting of the Police Officers Assn. was called immediately so members could vote on the proposal.

“I am very optimistic that the agreement will be ratified by a majority,” predicted Officer Blair Summey, the union’s president.

Union attorney Stephen Silver would describe the tentative pact only as “a respectable contract for both sides.”

Week to 10 Days

Simi Valley Personnel Director Laura Wylie said that if accepted by the union, the pact would be presented to the City Council “within the next week to 10 days.”

The council might consider the agreement at its regular meeting July 24, but only if the paper work and language of the contract are completed, Wylie said.

The agreement appeared to end a labor dispute that peaked Monday at a crowded, emotional council meeting attended by about 200 police officers, their families and friends. Police and their supporters protested the lack of a contract and voiced concern over threats made last week that the council might consider replacing the city’s police force with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

Summey said he believed that the large turnout prompted both sides to end a three-week break in talks and return to the negotiating table.

The 85-member police force has worked without a contract since July 1.

The union sought a workweek of four 10-hour days and a wage scale tied to the average police pay in Southern California cities of comparable size. The base pay for a patrol officer in Simi Valley is $26,472 a year, and for a sergeant it is $34,608.