Cape police, city at impasse over pay issue

The first public sign of trouble came May 16 when a not-so-subtle salvo landed on the doorsteps of thousands of newspaper subscribers -- an ad in bold black letters indicating a rift between some Cape Girardeau police officers and the city officials who sign their paychecks.

The paid advertisement was only 15 words, accompanied by the names of nearly 50 police officers, encouraging city residents to vote no on a measure to extend the city's half-cent road tax.

A stinging message, considering the city's top elected official, Mayor Harry Rediger, had been out stumping for weeks to get voters to support the measure.

A series of similar ads paid for by the Cape Girardeau Police Officers Association ran intermittently until three days before the election. The ad accused city government of reneging on three pay-increase promises dating back 10 years.

The harshest words would become the association's refrain: "We have no trust in city government."

Regardless, on Aug. 3, voters approved what is called the Transportation Trust Fund, although it was by a smaller margin than in years past.

Six weeks later, the rift remains and tensions are high between the two groups, with past and present city officials saying claims by the police are not true, while the police officers association is standing by its assertions.

City officials say they just want to move forward, but the police organization wants its concerns addressed.

"I'm caught in between," said Scott Meyer, who came on as city manager in June 2009. "I'm not interested in digging up the past. I'm interested in turning the page and going on."

City hall does defend itself, with a lengthy point-by-point memo that it says rebuts most of the police association's claims, including pay raises that cost more than was generated by a public safety sales tax increase and a 4 percent raise last year for police officers when other city workers got none.

Meetings described as "candid and productive" were held between city staff and association representatives before the August vote, but Bill Bohnert, association president, said they haven't met to discuss the conflict since.

"They kind of played it off," Bohnert said. "They'd always say, 'We'll fix it next year.' That's why we had to come out and make it public."

Very public.

The ads make the association's claims clear: In 2000, city officials brought in a consulting firm, which found that Cape Girardeau officers' pay was 16 to 25 percent less than their counterparts in cities of comparable size. Also, the study found, more officers were needed. The association says the recommendations were ignored.

In 2004, a public safety tax ballot question was put before voters. Bohnert said officers were promised the tax would increase their pay to 97 percent of what officers in similar-size cities were getting.

Though there were two 1 percent pay increases for some officers -- those with the rank of sergeant or below -- pay is still not at the level the association was told it would be, Bohnert said.

As the city worked to pass a parks and recreation tax two years ago, the association threatened to come out against that tax if city management did not follow through on its promises.

Former mayor Jay Knudtson met with the association and "threatened the officers with retaliation the last two years of his office if we caused the tax to fail," the ad said. So the association stayed quiet and the tax passed.

"Right now, their word means nothing," Bohnert said. "We will never trust them again unless it's in writing."

Former and current city officials have a different take.

Knudtson, who said he was extremely disappointed in the ads, said he watched parks personnel get little as police and firefighters "reaped financial benefits" from the public safety tax.

Knudtson doesn't deny the threat allegation against him.

"If you guys follow through with this ad and create more divisiveness amongst the various departments, it will be very difficult for me to give you my full support on these issues," he remembers saying.

"They may have viewed that as a threat, and if so, so be it," he said last week.

A memo compiled by assistant city manager Heather Brooks counters several of the police association's claims. City employees and the public, for example, were told the $1 million from the public safety tax would pay for additional fire personnel, to move communications from police to the fire department and make adjustments for more competitive salaries.

The breakdown of the $1 million is what the voters approved, the memo said. Voters did not vote to make the police department's salaries competitive no matter what the cost or where the money comes from, it says.

The memo also says the implementation of the pay plan cost $691,184 the first year, which is nearly 24 percent more than the sales tax brought in. Also, the pay plan was created by comparing the city's starting pay with other communities. The plan increased starting police salaries by 22.8 percent, corporal pay by 16.5 percent, sergeant pay by 28.6 percent and lieutenant pay by 29 percent, the memo says.

These were starting pay increases and not what existing employees received, it says. The average raise for existing uniformed fire and police officers was 12 percent, which included provisions to address seniority, according to the memo.

"The city more than met its commitment to the voters and employees on where the money was going to go," the memo says. "There is no way the city could have promised to keep them competitive since we cannot predict the economy, how the sales tax will perform and what our comparable cities will do with their salaries."

4 percent raise

Also, the memo says, when police employees threatened to oppose the parks sales tax, the city did agree to provide a 4 percent raise to uniformed police officers at the sergeant level and below. The city also let them take their vehicles home within a 12-mile radius and provided an extra personal day. This was done, the memo says, when all other city employees did not receive raises or cost-of-living increases.

The memo does acknowledge a city management mistake in communication at one point. At about the same time the city implemented the pay plan, the city became aware that the officers' pay plan started at 95 percent of pay in similar-size cities instead of the 97 percent the officers were told they would get.

The memo acknowledges the 2 percent difference "created a large amount of mistrust, which is understandable." The memo says that the implemented plan is still considered competitive and that the 2 percent difference only affected a few officers with the least amount of experience in their position.

Still, the city and the police officers association are at an impasse. If the city continues not to offer a better pay plan, the association fears the department will continue to be a "training ground" for new officers.

"They're here two to three years, and then we start all over again. We're paying to train them and then send them to different agencies," Bohnert said.

Additionally, the association has requested an increase in officers as the department is struggling to staff some of its shifts, Bohnert said. There are many nights, he said, when there are only around six officers patrolling the streets.

"We haven't seen a mayor or a city manager yet that wants to talk about it," Bohnert said. "And we've been needing more officers for a long time. It seems the request falls on deaf ears."

ehevern@semissourian.com

388-3635

smoyers@semissourian.com

388-3642