NEWPORT BEACH : Police Assn. Rejects City’s Contract Offer

Police Department employees on Thursday unanimously rejected the city’s latest contract offer and declared an impasse in negotiations over wages, scheduling and benefits.

The police, who have been working without a contract since July, are among two of Newport Beach’s six employee groups that have yet to sign agreements with the city. The Newport Beach Employees’ League, which represents blue-collar workers, filed suit against the city Monday to demand a wage increase.

Police Detective Tom Tolman, president of the police association, said that his group will now consider joining that lawsuit or filing a separate one. Tolman said the police association would go through arbitration if the city is willing and that the group might launch pickets or other publicity campaigns to elicit a more generous offer.

“We don’t feel the city considers its employees to be valuable assets,” Tolman said. “We don’t feel that way and we certainly haven’t been treated that way. We’ve purposely stayed away from litigation in the past because we felt that we could handle ourselves in a gentleman’s manner. But that’s one of the few options we see left.”

In three separate sessions over the past two days, 104 of the 250 members of the police association met and voted to turn down the city’s offer.