WESTMINSTER : One-Year Contract Imposed on Police

After nearly 10 months of failed negotiations, the City Council has voted to impose a new one-year contract on its 154-member police union, a decision that prompted officials of the Police Officers Assn. to consider a legal challenge of the new pact.

The council voted 3-2 Tuesday to impose the contract on the police officers, who have been working without a pact since December. Much of the new deal is retroactive to Saturday.

Council members Tony Lam and Craig Schweisinger voted against the proposal, saying that negotiations, which broke off last month after city officials declared an impasse, should have been reopened.

But Councilwoman Charmayne S. Bohman, who was endorsed by the police officers union when she ran in 1992 and again during the June recall election, said that “if there was another way to do it, and remain fiscally responsible, I would have done it.” Bohman voted with Mayor Charles V. Smith and Councilman Frank Fry to approve the contract.

The contract guarantees that salaries of city police officers will be the sixth-highest in Orange County. It calls for a minimum pay raise of 3 1/2%, a figure that could rise to as high as 6% if other cities increase the salaries of their officers. The pay hike will be effective in January, although most of the other benefits have already begun.

City police officers, who earn between $3,000 and $4,000 a month, are currently ranked about 14th in the county, union officials said.

A union official said the Police Officers Assn. is “laying the basis for legal opposition” to parts of the contract or the process itself.

The city has never before imposed a contract on any employee group.

Terry Selinske, three-time union president and current treasurer, said that union officials believe the city did not negotiate in good faith because it presented a “best and final offer” that contained fewer benefits than previous proposals the union had rejected.

Al Brackett, the union president, said that although the court challenge will be seriously considered, union members may also decide to accept the one-year contract and seek contract negotiations again in January.

City and union negotiators deadlocked on medical benefits, overtime pay and cash-outs for unused sick leave.

Some union members said they were expecting more consideration from council members, whom they supported in the 1992 November election and a June 7 recall election.

“I and several other employees observed this as a slap in the face,” Police Lt. Charles M. Schliskey said in a letter to the council. “We were not looking for any pay-back,” but for the council to reopen negotiations.