The panel met earlier this year to hear testimony from both sides, with the independent arbitrator and chairman of the panel being Howard Foster. The other two panel members were City clerk Todd Thomas and John Crotty, who will serve on behalf of the police officers.

Following testimony and deliberation, the panel released its 44-page ruling on the matter, with a key provision being that all wages for union members shall be increased by 2 percent for both the years 2016 and 2017.

• READ COMPLETE 44-PAGE ARBITRATION RULING

While both Foster and Crotty concurred to the pay-raise decision, Thomas dissented, claiming the city doesn’t have the funding available to afford the raises due to its reaching its constitutional tax limit. That was contrary to the union’s argument that although the city may not have been able to use tax revenue to pay for a salary hike, the city did have other means to make the payment, primarily from dividend payments from profits made by the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities.

Thomas disagreed.

“The city cannot increase taxes, cannon unilaterally alter the [BPU tax equivalency], and cannot budget a [BPU] dividend where there are insufficient profits or knowledge of profits. In short, the city lacks the ability to pay a substantial wage increase,” Thomas wrote in his opinion, adding, “Apart from a general inability to pay, the evidence was insufficient to prove that the Union requires an increase in wages.”

As part of the pay-raise issue, the arbitration ruling also stated that the retroactive raise must be made to the members no later than Dec. 15, 2018.

In addition to the pay raise, the panel also ruled in a 2 to 1 decision that effective December 31, 2017, members of the union shall pay 19 percent toward the total monthly premium for health and dental insurance and effective January 1, 2015, any employee or retiree who doesn’t participate in the city’s voluntary health and wellness program will see their premiums payment set at 26 percent, effective Dec. 31, 2017. The union dissented to this portion of the ruling.

“I believe the record of evidence supports a wage increase higher than what was awarded by the Chairman and it did not support the increase in employee payments toward the cost of health insurance that the city sought and was awarded which erodes the value of the wage increase,” Crotty wrote in his opinion. “That said, the award is the ‘just and reasonable determination of the matters in dispute’ that the Taylor Law requires.”

The arbitration panel also unanimously ruled that effective January 1, 2016 all employees who have completed 17 years of service shall receive longevity payment of $3,000 per year thereafter.

Because the arbitration decision was only posted on the state Public Employment Relations Board website on Wednesday, WRFA is unable to get immediate comment from city officials on what the financial impact would be for the city to make the retroactive salary payments as ordered by the arbitration panel.

The Jamestown City Council is currently working on a budget for 2019 and the additional payment to the police union will likely factor into that discussion in the coming weeks.

The decision could also have an impact on the city’s contract with its firefighters union, since both the police and fire union involve public safety employees who have traditionally had very similar, if not identical, contracts. The 2016 and 2017 labor contract with the firefighters is also currently at an impasse and could go to arbitration as well, unless the two sides agree to follow the terms laid out in the police union contract arbitration decision.

Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi

JAMESTOWN – The wait continues for a decision regarding the arbitration case between the city of Jamestown and its police officer’s union.

That from Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi, who told WRFA during his August interview it’s still not known when the final decision from the three-member arbitration panel will be handed down.

“Oral arguments have been made, written papers have been submitted and the three-member arbitration panel is back doing their thing on their time-table and ultimately will come out with a decision so at this time we sit and wait for that decision,” Teresi said.

Officers with the Jamestown Police Department (Kendall Club) have been working under the terms of an expired contract since the start of 2016. Following months of negotiations which resulted in no new collective bargaining agreement, an impasse was reached and at the start of this year both sides decided to bring the matter before an arbitration panel.

In April and May attorneys for both the city and the union attended hearings on the matter in city hall. Those hearings were open to the public and Teresi says it gave the public an opportunity to get a first-hand look at the process.

“This time they decided to open up the doors and let sunshine into the room. Everybody could see what was going on in the arbitration process,” Teresi said. “Kudos to those that were willing to do that on the arbitration panel. Usually the public doesn’t see the ‘sausage being made’ as they say. It’s a long and arduous process and things are moving along in the process according to what the process dictates, from what we’ve seen before, though the public may not have seen it before.”

The Jamestown Post-Journal was on hand for the hearings, reporting the police union had proposed a 5 percent pay increase during negotiations, but were expecting a counter-offer from the city. However, the city made only one proposal, which was a zero percent pay increase for the officers. Because of this and other matters, the impasse was reached and the contract issue went to arbitration.

Since the conclusion of the hearings in mid-May, the two sides have been waiting for a decision to come forward.

The independent arbitrator for the panel is Howard Foster. The other two panel members selected by each party were City clerk Todd Thomas selected by the city and John Crotty selected by the police union.

The union contract with the city fire fighters also expired at the end 2015 but Teresi has said both sides will await a decision regarding the police contract before moving forward with finalizing the firefighters contract.

City officials are anxious to get a decision before the end of the 2019 budget process, which begins with the release of the executive budget in early October and concludes with the city council’s passage of the budget by the end of November.  The decision will help determine how much money the city would need to help balance the books in the coming fiscal year.

The announcement was made via email Sunday afternoon by Mayor Sam Teresi’s assistant Matthew Hanley.

Officers with the Jamestown Police Department have been working under the terms of an expired contract since the start of 2016.

Following months of negotiations between the city and the Kendall Club PBA collective bargaining unit that resulted in no new collective bargaining agreement, the issue of finalizing a new contract for police union members was scheduled to go before an arbitration panel beginning Monday morning in City Hall.

The independent arbitrator for the panel will be Howard Foster. The other two panel members will be City clerk Todd Thomas representing the city’s interests and John Crotty, who will serve on behalf of the police officers.

Because the hearing was postponed indefinitely, a rescheduled date has not yet been set.

Following months of negotiations between the city and the Kendall Club PBA collective bargaining unit that resulted in no new collective bargaining agreement, the issue of finalizing a new contract for police union members will now go before an arbitration panel in February.

Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi last week said the arbitration hearing will be held Monday and Tuesday, Feb. 12-13. The independent arbitrator for the panel will be Howard Foster. The other two panel members will be City clerk Todd Thomas and John Crotty, who will serve on behalf of the police officers.

Because municipal contract negotiations do not take place in public, it is not known what the main sticking point or points were between the city and police union that lead to an impasse in negotiations.

Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi at the Oct. 16, 2017 city council work session.

“We are anxiously awaiting the case to move forward to be educated, apparently, on the true nature of the city’s financial position.” – Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi

JAMESTOWN – Mayor Sam Teresi says the arbitration hearing between the city and its police union to settle contract differences wont get underway until February 2018.

The Jamestown Kendall Club Police Benevolent Association has been working without a new contract since Jan. 1, 2016.  Since that time, both the city and union have tried to iron out a new collective bargaining agreement but the process reached an impasse earlier this year. As a result, the contract issue will go before an arbitration panel in mid February.

• VIEW 2012-2016 Kendell Club PBA Contract

During Monday night’s city council work session, Teresi said February was the time the two sides settled on because of conflicts later this year with holiday schedules, as well as the union planning to have a financial consultant testify, but not being able to do so until mid February.

“Apparently the financial consultant they hired will be coming in to demonstrate to us that the city has a very robust financial position and is able to pay whatever needs to be paid in order to settle this matter,” the mayor said. “[The consultant] is questioning whether or not the finances that are presented to you on a monthly basis by our own city comptroller, the audit by our independent auditor, what we’ve been advised by the state comptroller’s office as well as the state division of budget, and the governor’s office who felt it necessary to bringing in $1 million in incentive payments and corrective aid payments to the city on a one-time basis to assist with our restructuring and downsizing initiatives – apparently none of that is true…. We are anxiously awaiting the case to move forward to be educated, apparently, on the true nature of the city’s financial position.”

Jamestown officials have been grappling with financial challenges the past several budgets and is in the process of trying to identify ways to close an estimated $950,000 deficit in the $35.7 million budget proposed for next year.  The mayor has said that many of the financial challenges are due to a lack of local economic growth, coupled with unfunded state mandates tied to minimum staffing requirements, salaries, retirement, and healthcare costs.

The independent arbitrator who has been assigned to work on the contract is Howard Foster of the University of Buffalo School of Management, who’s arbitrated more than 800 labor-management disputes.

Earlier this month, Teresi said retired city clerk and financial services manager Jim Olson will represent the city and John Crotty will represent the police union on the arbitration panel.

Other collective bargaining groups working without a contract include the Jamestown Professional Firefighters Association and Jamestown City Administrative Association.

The lack of an updated contract between the city and its employees is expected to create a challenge for city council members as they work through the 2018 budget process.

Jamestown mayor Sam Teresi recently updated the Jamestown City Council on the matter during its Oct. 2 work session. Teresi said the representatives for the three-member arbitration panel have been selected and will work to settle disputes between the two sides and hammer out a deal. Members of the Kendell Club Police Benevolent Association have been working without a contract since Jan. 1, 2016.

• VIEW 2012-2016 Kendell Club PBA Contract

The independent arbitrator who has been assigned to work on the contract is Howard Foster of the University of Buffalo School of Management, who’s arbitrated more than 800 labor-management disputes.

Teresi said retired city clerk and financial services manager Jim Olson will represent the city and John Crotty will represent the police union on the arbitration panel. The mayor also said no starting date has been set for the arbitration hearing.

Other collective bargaining groups working without a contract include the Jamestown Professional Firefighters Association and Jamestown City Administrative Association.

The lack of an updated contract between the city and its employees is expected to create a challenge for city council members as they work through the 2018 budget process.  That will officially begin Tuesday when Teresi presents his executive budget to the council during a public meeting scheduled for 4 p.m. in the Mayors Conference Room of City Hall.