Borough and police reach three-year accord

Compromise makes council members happy; police give us 4 ‘comp’ days, By Mark J. Yablonsky FRANKLIN — After months of hard work and “due diligence,” the borough has reached agreement on a new three-year contract with its police department. The new deal, announced publicly on Sept. 22 and instated the following day, gives police officers a 3.2 percent raise for all of 2009 — dating retroactively to Jan. 1, 2009 — and then 3.5 percent increases for both 2010 and 2011. The contract will expire on Dec. 31, 2011. The work took about a year to complete, beginning in September 2008. Borough officials said they were pleased with the outcome. The police bargain separately with the town, unlike other borough employees. “Each officer gave back four court days for this 3.5 percent, so I think it was a fair and reasonable contract,” said borough councilman Mark Zschack, who chairs the public safety committee. The court days represent comp days that police officers had accrued over time through previous contract negotiations. They replaced overtime pay given to officers when they must spend the day in court. Prior to this recent contract, police had acquired 12 such days, but now they have agreed to have just eight. “In our minds this is what compensated us for the large raise they got,” said Franklin Mayor Paul Crowley. “I would say that they were very generous in this. We have 14 members on the force and we got four days back from each one, so it’s a large, very significant giveback on this. I appreciate how generous they were with this,” Crowley said. Compromise essential “I think we worked well together with the police union, and I appreciate all the due diligence all the parties involved did,” Zschack said. He serves on the public safety committee with both Pat Barton and Donna Miller. While the bargaining period(s) contained a lot of hard work, the borough felt that both sides did well, especially considering the harsh economic climate of the last two years. “When you get involved in these kinds of intensive negotiations, no one is ever completely happy,” said borough administrator Richard R. Wolak. “But the purpose of negotiations is just that: to reach a compromise. Though the salary increases may seem high to some, based on the status of the economy, they are fully in line with comparable police awards throughout the state, as well as being tempered by some major givebacks by the police department totaling approximately $40,000 a year. “In retrospect, I think the contract, as it now stands, provides a solid foundation for any negotiations in the future.” Wolak also explained that during the recently-concluded negotiating period, previously gray areas were clarified, including the question of whether police officers who begin work in the middle of the year or later are entitled to the whole year (in pay) or should be paid on a pro-rated basis. It is the latter that is now understood, borough officials said. The grievance procedure was also properly “cleaned up,” making it “simple and transparent,” Wolak said.