Police are threatening to go to arbitration because they say the village is stalling negotiations of their employment contract.
Detective Bill Wassmann, who represents 32 officers seeking a three-year contract, said “negotiations have taken a nose dive.” The officers’ contract expired May 1.
Wassmann said he recently appeared before the Village Board in what he described as “a last-ditch effort to settle without going through the arbitration process. Arbitration would take a year or more to settle and could cost thousands of dollars.”
According to Wassmann, the village and officers had been near an agreement on a contract. The officers had asked for a 4 percent pay increase in each of three years. Wassmann said that the village had offered them a 4 percent increase in the first year and 3 percent increases in the following years. He said, however, that the village abruptly changed its offer to 3 percent increases every year. He said the village also wants to increase the officers’ share of health-care costs.
At the board meeting at which Wassmann appeared, Village President John Geils chastised him for bringing up the negotiations in a public meeting. “I think it’s inappropriate to negotiate a contract in public,” Geils said. “I also don’t think the numbers (Wassmann presented) are accurate.”
