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Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Police union halts labor talks with City Hall
by Melissa Corker, published on February 8, 2012 at 7:27 AM
Storyline: Politics
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In the the wake of the City Council’s 5-4 vote Tuesday blocking the strong mayor initiative from going to the November ballot, police union leaders halted labor contract discussions with City Hall.
Mark Tyndale, president of the Sacramento Police Officers Association told City Manager John Shirey in an email just hours after the final council vote that he was “suspending all discussions between the city and the SPOA negotiations team.”
After voting down the strong mayor initiative, council members approved a ballot measure to create an elected 15-member charter reform commission.
Calling the cost of a charter commission “fiscally irresponsible,” Tyndale said in the email that he “can’t help but feel this was nothing but a tactic by some of them to once again publically (sic) display their contempt for the Mayor.”
Although the SPOA had engaged with city labor representatives in a series of “off the record” discussions, Tyndale said in the email, the council’s decision to create a charter commission caused him to reevaluate his position.
“I refuse to consider further concessions that will only be used to fund the Commission,” Tyndale said.
The cost of a charter commission is largely unknown, according to the City Clerk’s office. In a staff report to council Tuesday, a portion of the cost – the cost of putting the question to the voters of rather to create a commission – was estimated at more than $127,000.
Assistant City Attorney Matt Ruyak said Tuesday that the additional costs of staffing and maintaining a commission – beyond the cost of the election alone – were unknown at this early stage.
Tyndale asked Shirey and City Finance Director Leyne Milstein for a written estimate of the costs to the city for an elected charter review commission.
Neither Tyndale nor Shirey were available for comment at press time for this story. The Sacramento Press will give updates on the situation as they become available.
Melissa Corker is a staff reporter with The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.
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Has SPOA ever once asked for the city to halt discussions on changing the charter to focus on officer safety? Community safety? Public safety? No! It's all about money, greedy little leprechauns in search of a pot of gold-- one for power and one for money. Absolutely unbelievable. And you mean to tell me Angelique Ashby and Steve Cohn could not see through this when Ray Charles deceased and blind could see through this greedy strong arm tactic of one hand (Johnson's) washing the other (Tyndale) I will be glad when the day arises when this union's rein of control over the city is disarmed and the people are given public safety by public servants-- absolutely freakin unbelievable
But seriously, after reading your comment, I spent most of the morning actually reading a great deal and saw more similarities between Rizzo/ Johnson/ Tyndale and Philly/ Sac. While I appreciate your comment and opinion I have to disagree with you, and it seems I do have insight into rein of control existing in Sacramento in this era and quite frankly the similarities (Rizzo’ brothers/ Johnson/ SPOA) far outweigh any differences you may want to discuss.
Their is always three sides to a story, his, hers and the truth. I read what many had to say of the Rizzo brothers and I've learned over the years to listen, read, consider all sides...
Page 70. The police union gave the mayor $5,000 in the past six months.
If you want to look at more 460 forms, go to http://nf4.netfile.com/pub2/Default.aspx?aid=SAC
That address rolls of the tongue so easily.
I've looked at each and everyone of them. You could combine all the monies of all the councilmembers and compare to the mayor's....especially given the new higher limits that are afforded to the mayor by both individuals and PAC's...the mayor simply wants the lionshare of all contributions to come into his coffers. He didn't put up close to 700,000 dollars of his own money for the benfit of this city. He want's that $580,000 in loans paid back, with recurring interest....just like his contributors want their own ROI!
http://vimeo.com/35003246
http://www.fieldofschemes.com/news/archives/nba/indiana_pacers/
"The city of Indianapolis has agreed to pay the Pacers $10 million a year for the next three years (plus $3.5 million for a new ribbon ad board, among other things) to play at Conseco Fieldhouse, the taxpayer-funded arena that the team plays at rent-free and keeps all revenues from. That's less than the full $15 million in annual operating costs — the Pacers' only arena-related expense — that the team owners said they wanted the city to cover, but not a whole heck of a lot less, especially considering that the Pacers' lease isn't actually up yet."
"In exchange, the city gets a commitment by the Pacers to stay in town ... for three years. After that, the team could break its lease and leave town with a smaller penalty, which would dwindle to zero by 2019, the year that their lease is actually set to expire. I don't think the Indianapolis Star used my quote, but what I told their reporter was something along the lines of "This is a pretty crappy payoff for $30 million in government subsidies."
Notice how Marcos neglected to mention any of this? Nope, the NFL and NBA business models are two entirely seperate models. The NBA's ain't working.
interest does he serve as he retyreats nightly to his home in another county?
And just remember, SPOA public safety officers contribute zero to their pensions. The CalPeers public safety employee formula is 9% for the employee and 22% for the employer. However all 31-32% is paid by the city. During the budget workshop several weeks ago, the city manager's report showed that our two public safety dept, Fire & PD, who do not contribute to their pensions, consume 82-83% of the descretionary portion of the city's annual budget. SPD takes home far more vehicles than anybody else as reveled by the latest city auditor audit....and SPOA has the nerve to walk away from negoiating? Just because their pinochio's SMI 3 got dumped? Give me a break!
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/01/08/4168924/enigmatic-councilman-a-political.html
SPOA was angry at Darrell's vote on the city budget last June. Boss Tyndale's thuggish threat was:
"Tyndale says that Fong could start making amends by voting to put Mayor Kevin Johnson's strong-mayor initiative on the ballot in June. Fong says he hasn't made up his mind, but did have a good talk with the mayor on Tuesday.
If the councilman continues to buck the union, Tyndale warns, it will find someone to run against him: "If we don't fix the relationship, we don't want him on the council."
Who is the community stewart? Tyndale or D.Fong?
And a portion of my response to that article...
"And to the leaders of SPOA, both Mark Tyndale an former president Brent Meyer....two individuals who don't live in this city....and have on numerous occasions stated how it can be dangerous to live in this city while being a police officer...for both them and their families.....
I give you Darrell Fong....as a myth buster!
And OMT, For Mr.,non-resident, Tyndale to suggest that charter revision is a bargaining chip:
"... Fong could start making amends by voting to put Mayor Kevin Johnson's strong-mayor initiative on the ballot in June."
Is insulting to say the least and "flies in the face" of the constitutional process ordained by the State of California.
Sorry words from someone sworn to uphold the laws of this state!" That would be Mark Tyndale!
Tyndale stood before the council in previous years giving threats during the budget, "If we get less, we will do less" When their were community members getting nothing but laboring to address the violence. Shameful.
Unlike Ashby, I don't think D Fong is going to fall prey to Tyndale’s games. He knows he was voted into office on his merits and not due to an endorsement. He also knows he will remain in office with integrity and not due to an endorsement. D. Fong is not having fun, but he's not a quiter. He doesn't need the job to give him fulfullment or self-esteem, so he will perform his duties with integrity and not care about the criticism. He follows his heart. He's not trying to make friends he is trying to help the city
And quiet is kept, Tynsdale needs to back off of D. Fong, since Fong was in the department for 30yrs and knows all too well were cuts can really be made within the SPD. Tyndale is playing with fire and he will get burned. My bet is on Fong to come out the fight without a scratch. The quiet ones are always the one to watch lol. The loud one (Tyndale) will give his hand every time he has a big ego. Tyndale is fighting so hard against D. Fong and fighting so hard for the mayor to have control of the budget because he‘s scared- desperate people do desperate things. Tynsdale is scared SPOA is losing their control of the city council and he is working hard with Johnson to maintain it through Charter change. Fong’s not scared of Tyndale, Tyndale is scared of Fong lol thats the reason for his mean spirited public display against Fong.
Thank you for the information you provided. You are greatly appreciated!
:-)
http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/snog/blogs#BlogPost-5107298
Police & Fire may be concerned that their collective bargaing agreement could be rivised, especially in light of the fact that people like Tyndale, who don't live in the city, can't participate.
Something else that Cosmo pointed out, the schools and the thje way they are governed. Imagine this mayor and his spouse attempting to open that up, especially with her new Non Profit education reform "Student First"
Interesting year ahead!
I just read Cosmos blog! Thanks for posting the info. He wrote the truth! Some may be afraid of the truth, for some the truth may hurt, some might can't handle the truth but for those of us who have become commodities... the truth will set us free! I loved it!
The ulitimate solution is Scott Walker / Wisconsin style public employee union reforms. Step one would be make union membership voluntary.
Until Sacramentans come to this realization, our fortunes (or lack thereof) will continue to be driven by a very small select cadre of public employees, many of whom don't even live in the City.
Next - re. contributions. Groups and corporations have too much influence over the political process I would agree. I am a huge advocate of individuals only being allowed to contribute to political campaigns as well as not allowing political candidates to make loans to their own campaigns. Eliminating the ability of candidates to make loans and groups and corporate contributions would make political campaigns more accessible to more candidates and (in all probability) give us much better candidates who don't have agendas tied to anyone or anything other than the people they are elected to represent.
Lastly, the Charter Commission is a BAD idea! Do we need to do it, yep! But, not right now when the City is so strapped for cash. The $3-5million it is going to take to fund the two year process will come from the general fund which is where police and fire funding comes from - this is why the police are so upset. If you say "Just Let Us Vote" and you are applying it to the charter commission and not the SMI I ask "WHY?". Shouldn't the "Just Let Us Vote" mantra apply across the board?
RE: Charter commission the city was /is strapped for cash while our mayor (& team) spent money to change the charter. Lots of folks are upset, lots of cuts to lots of departments other than LE, lots of folks losing their jobs during budgets, but surely, as always, as you also failed to mention, a grant will be discovered, money will be located, shifted, found to soften the cuts of LE as everyone else is directed to unemployment line, jail, prison, morgue, cemetary...So, again, Keep it real.- Please
There are innumerable occupations that make a city and civilized society work efficiently; from dog catcher to sewage plant manager to traffic engineer to building inspector. All of these contribute to public saftey. Police and fire are but one component, just because they wear a badge does not give them the right to receive outsized benefits.
Fire is especially ridiculous. Since fires are far less common nowdays, fire departments have weaseled their way into paramedic services to maintain union membership, a service that can be outsourced far more effectively. Both police and fire have also refined the union art of throwing the youngest, lower paid employees under the bus during budget crunches, raising the cost to the city.
Since new police and fire recruits are still lining up around the block for these jobs, and municipalities across the state are laying off, it is pretty apparent that there is room for a lot more cuts.