Plan to Trim Police Brass Is Shot Down : Money: City manager calls a retirement buyout for top officers too costly, but says he backs the rest of a department reorganization plan.

A proposal by the city’s police chief to offer some of his administrators early retirement buyouts was rejected Wednesday by the city manager’s office as too costly.

Five to seven top managers, from the ranks of commander and deputy chief, were to be offered the buyouts--called “golden handshakes”--as part of a broader effort by Police Chief Bob Burgreen to trim the upper management ranks.

But City Manager Jack McGrory, citing a first-year cost of $500,000 to $700,000, told police officials Wednesday that the proposal was too expensive, despite Burgreen’s assertion that $400,000 to $500,000 could have been saved in the two years following the initial buyout.

“Over the long haul, we would have had some savings,” Burgreen said. “But the immediate expense was troubling to the manager. It’s going to make the implementation of flattening the organization more difficult and take a longer time than I had hoped for.”

McGrory’s decision complicates Burgreen’s plan to cut a number of jobs at the top of the department while eliminating two ranks of command.

As part of the reorganization, drafted by Assistant Chief Norm Stamper, Burgreen wanted less bureaucracy and clearer communication from his office on down.

At the same time, the chief was hoping to promote talented officers in an agency that has seen little upward movement in recent years.

Under the proposal, five jobs were to have been dropped but Burgreen and Stamper were looking for even deeper cuts and the buyout was to have been extended to the rank of captain.

Still determined to carry out his idea, Burgreen said he would allow attrition to take its course and wait for personnel to retire, although he did not know how long that would take.

The buyout plan produced its share of anxiety, as longtime police executives had to ponder their futures in a department where they had spent most of their adult lives.

Much of the frustration was directed at Stamper, where trimming the upper ranks was first proposed in an voluminous audit released last month. Stamper had been on vacation in Hawaii but attended Wednesday morning’s meeting.

Others in the department, however, were prepared to retire and saw the incentives--which included two years added to their retirement and two years added to their tenure--as a tremendous opportunity.

“I know there’s going to be some disappointment,” Burgreen said. “But I know these people. In a few days, they’ll be back pulling their load. Then this organization can think of something else to worry about.”

While McGrory’s decision answers a number of questions that had been tormenting the department, it raised others Wednesday at the meeting among McGrory and police administrators.

Why, asked one official at the meeting, did McGrory wait so long to reject the proposal when the costs were clear from the beginning?

McGrory said the up-front expenses initially were estimated to be $50,000, with the rest of the money paid out over a number of years, had the city been able to work the payments through its retirement system.

But because the Municipal Code prohibits early retirement payments, McGrory said the only way to have made the buyouts work is to have paid $500,000 to $700,000 out of the Police Department’s operating budget. He said new tax laws also added to problems in adopting the plan.

Although McGrory said he discussed the costs with the City Council, he took full responsibility for scuttling the buyouts. The council never voted on the issue.

Now that the buyout plan has been put to rest, McGrory said it is time to concentrate on other areas of Stamper’s audit.

“From my perspective, we still have an excellent management team in place,” McGrory said. “I’m behind the general direction of the (proposal) 110%. I’m behind the concept of neighborhood policing and streamlining the organization.”

The consensus Wednesday was that a determination of the situation--any determination--was welcome news.

“There’s been a decision, which is nice,” said Cmdr. Larry Gore, the head of administrative services and public affairs. “We’ve got some very important things to do here and there’s no more uncertainty looming. We’re ready to move forward.”