Simi Valley Officers on the Job but New Contract Still Up in Air

Paul Smith said he would pay about $15 per year. John Decker would make it an even $500. Mary King doesn’t know how much she would pay to keep police officers on the street in Simi Valley, but said there are days when no amount of money is enough for the job they do.

From the mother in the park to the worker at lunch to the officer on the beat, the question being asked throughout the country’s safest community is: When will city officials and the 100-member police officers’ union agree on a new contract?

On Tuesday, members of the Simi Valley Police Officers Assn. began their first day working without a new contract.

Fred O. James, president of the police association, said the two sides were at an impasse after the city made it clear that its last, best offer of a 3% raise was final.

What officers want--and are willing to give up a pay increase to get--is a one-year, rather than three-year, pact that includes binding arbitration in personnel issues.

As the first day without a new contract rolled on, an exasperated James said, “We are at the same place we were a week ago.” Officers are set to meet tonight to review their options.

But Assistant City Manager Laura Herron said there are still plenty of issues to discuss.

“We’d be happy to go back to the table any time the POA wants to,” she said. “We’re still open to discussions while they’re saying we’re at an impasse.”

On the beat, it is business as usual, said Officer Rick Rinehart, a 15-year veteran of the Simi Valley Police Department. He is holding judgment on where the officers go from here until he finds out what happens at tonight’s meeting.

“I’m kind of a wait-and-see guy,” said Rinehart, 41. “It’s not that we don’t have a contract. We’re still working under the old contract. It’s just that we don’t have a new contract.”

As for binding arbitration, Rinehart said it would improve the department’s discipline procedure. More importantly, it would give officers an unbiased hearing.

“Binding arbitration takes the politics out of the discipline process,” he said.

City Council members say binding arbitration allows an outsider who is not beholden to voters to make disciplinary decisions better left to elected officials and their staff.

“Binding arbitration is a buzzword that a lot of union people like to use, because they think it’s neat,” Simi Valley Mayor Greg Stratton said.

“From the standpoint of the city, binding arbitration is allowing someone else to make the decisions on who your employees are and how you operate your city,” he said.

Councilman Paul Miller, a retired Simi Valley police chief, considers binding arbitration a solution to a nonexistent problem.

“What are they trying to fix?” he asked. “Who has been fired that you would want back on the force? Who has been disciplined unfairly?”

James insists that the demand for binding arbitration follows years of unfair discipline by city managers after state hearing officials rule in the officers’ favor.

Around town, residents said they were sure that the Police Department does a good job. Where they disagree is on the value of such service.

“I think they’re worth $50,000 a year,” said Simi Valley resident Kim Hunnicutt, who spent Tuesday afternoon at Rancho Simi Community Park with her grandsons.

Over the three decades she has lived in Simi Valley, Hunnicutt said, she has called on officers 10 times.

“Just last Friday, I called because there was a suspicious person out front. They told me the officers would be coming right out, and they did,” she said.

Jenny Kerstein, who was at the park with her 4-year-old son Jacob, spotted a patrol car drive by. Despite the contract disputes, she said she was reassured that officers were still on the job.

“As long as I can see them out on the street, then I know I’m OK,” Kerstein said, adding that Simi Valley officers should be among the best-paid in the county.

Across town at Jerry’s Coffee Shop on Los Angeles Avenue, Decker, who owns a machine shop, said he would gladly pay $500 a year directly to the police force. “But I’d want something for that, like a patrol car cruising by once a day,” he said.

“I wouldn’t want the money to go just anywhere. I’d want to know where it was going.”

Paul Smith, another customer, figured that the price of a couple of movie tickets--$15--would be an adequate amount to pay each year to keep his city safe.

Mary King, 30, a waitress at Jerry’s, said she is confident that the city and police union will reach an agreement soon.

“This isn’t going to last long, I wouldn’t think,” she said.

The nature of police work makes it difficult to estimate a specific value for the service, King maintains.

“The job is so dangerous that I’m sure there are days when no amount of money is enough to do what they do,” she said.

Times staff writer Kate Folmar contributed to this story.