Re “‘Two Reasons the Police Union Will Not Be Able to Drive Pedersen Away’”
[img]1305|right|Andy Weissman||no_popup[/img]You do not have to be psychic to fearlessly predict the outcome of the most curious item on Monday evening’s City Council agenda.
In contrast to the Ferguson, Chicago, Oakland and Staten Island communities where cops are on defense, quiescent Culver City presents a lovefest.
At the 7 o’clock meeting in Council Chambers, City Hall’s recently completed – and apparently record – five-year agreement with the 95-member Police Officers Assn. will be endorsed with vigor by all five Council members.
These are new times, with new leaders working in a collaborative environment that scarcely resembles the warring mood of the recent past.
Andy Weissman, the senior Councilman, said the labor contract is the longest that he can remember by one of the city’s half-dozen unions. Typically, agreements are for three years.
Mr. Weissman characterized as “non-contentious and amicable” negotiations between City Manager John Nachbar, CFO Jeff Muir, Human Relations Director Serena Wright on one side of the table and the POA representatives with their attorneys on the other.
“Of the 95 sworn officers in the POA,” he said, “more than 70 showed up at the POA meeting where the memorandum of understanding was presented for approval. It was unanimously approved by the members in attendance.”
Mr. Weissman said he “would speculate that the length of the agreement had to do with:
• “The feeling that both sides were negotiating in good faith,
• “The attitude of mutual understanding engendering a greater degree of acceptance as to the positions being advocated,
• “A willingness on the part of both sides, given the level of trust and the feeling on the part of the parties, that the terms of the MOU were fair and reasonable, and
• “That there was a shared desire on both sides to provide a level of certainty that a five-year contract would provide.”
The police union, among other sensitive points, agreed to deepen its pension contributions.
Four Stormy Years Ago
Nearly forgotten by now is the POA’s noisy but rudderless rebellion four years ago this summer, an attempt to unseat feisty Chief Don Pedersen.
The five-member police union board had philosophical differences with the chief who retired, on his own terms, four months ago and took a position overseeing the County Sheriff’s Dept.
It was said in the summer of 2010 that the union rebellion bellyflopped for two reasons, underestimating Mr. Pedersen’s personal strength and resolve, and miscalculating that going public would breed community support.
The unhappy union leaders since have left the department. Randy Robertson, a 22-year veteran, now is president. Relations between the union and City Hall have been meringue-smooth and sweet, and presumably will be for the next five years under new Chief Scott Bixby.
