Salary negotiations continue, but clock is ticking

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- City officials and police union representatives

may have just two more months to find common ground during ongoing salary

negotiations.

A statewide bill set to take effect Jan. 1 will change the process of

arbitration between all cities and public safety agencies, putting the

final decision in the hands of state officials.

Meanwhile, city and Huntington Beach Police Officer Assn. officials

continue to negotiate under the old rules.

“We’re currently at the mediation level now,” City Administrator Ray

Silver said. “But if we fail to reach an agreement, the next step would

be to go to advise and arbitration, where a state arbitrator would

evaluate the points of both sides and come up with a suggested course of

action. It’s not mandatory to follow that suggestion.”

City and police officials called in state mediator David Hart to help

settle more than three months of salary talks, which reached a stalemate

last month.

In a written statement, Officer Russell Reinhart, a police union

leader, said the binding arbitration would not help current salary

negotiations because there’s still two months until it takes effect.

However, once in place, it will give police and firefighters a little

more strength at the bargaining table, he added.

Before going into mediation, where salary discussion are confidential,

the city was offering a contract with 10.47% pay raise the first year and

a 3% inflationary increase for the next three years. Meanwhile, the

police union was seeking a 13.25% wage increase with a 3.5% raise next

year.

If negotiations go on past January, the new bill, signed by Gov. Gray

Davis on Sept. 29, will do away with the advisement stage and go directly

to a binding process, where three arbitrators, as opposed to one under

the current system, would decide police salaries, Silver said.

Under that plan, after failing to reach an agreement through

mediation, one or both parties could ask the state for the binding

arbitration process. The city would choose one arbitrator, the police

union would choose a second, and both sides would choose a third.

Once in place, the state officials will determine a binding salary

contract to be accepted without argument, city officials said.

“In essence, the control of the city’s purse strings is taken out of

the hands of the officials elected by the citizens,” said Rich Barnard,

spokesman for the city, adding that some California cities are

challenging the bill by saying it oversteps the state’s responsibility.

“But, the state representatives will make a decision which they feel will

best service the community.”

Police union officials agreed, saying the process will deter both

sides from taking extreme positions during negotiations and guide them to

be more reasonable with each other.

Silver said he hopes even the advice of a state arbitrator, let alone

a binding decision, won’t be needed during present negotiations.

“We’re really hoping to reach an agreement through mediation, so we

can skip the arbitration stage entirely,” he said.