NEWPORT BEACH : Police Protest City Bargaining Stance

More than 70 members of the Police Department Employees Assn. attended Monday night’s City Council meeting to protest city management’s intransigence on two negotiating points--alternate scheduling and salary standards--during recently concluded contract talks.

Although the association’s 213 members approved the city’s final contract offer last week, it was by a slim margin, and a spokesman for the group said the city’s refusal to allow an alternate workweek schedule has damaged morale among officers and employees.

At issue is the city’s refusal to extend year-round an experimental schedule that allows officers some flexibility in determining their work schedule within a two-week pay period. The experimental program, which is suspended during the summer, allows police employees to work nine 9-hour days within the pay period, instead of the standard 10 8-hour days.

George Schaeffer, association counsel, pointed out that most employees have to make long commutes into Newport Beach and that the experimental schedule can mean less time commuting and more time with families.

“In the very near future, the city will not be able to attract or retain the same level of police officer the city now enjoys without an alternate work schedule,” Schaeffer told the council.

But city officials said they were reluctant to institute the experimental schedule before October because of concerns about its effect on city service and police coverage during summer months, when tourism and summer renters often bring about increased police activity.

The second sticking point between the city and association concerns a Police Department policy that Newport Beach officers’ pay be equal to the average pay in the three top-paying Orange County municipalities. The average salary increase among the top-paying cities ranged from 11% for patrol officers to 25% for captains, Schaeffer said.

But City Manager Robert L. Wynn argued that officers’ compensation this year has been generous. Under the new contract, police will receive raises of about 7%, bringing the salary for an entry-level Newport Beach police officer to about $34,968, the third highest in the county, according to a survey conducted in April by the Orange County Division of the League of California Cities.

Association members agreed that since contract negotiations are final for this year, Monday night’s statement is a symbolic gesture. But, Schaeffer said, members hope it will make a difference in the city’s contract negotiations next summer.