(Editor’s Note: Part of the following story appeared in print this morning, but the article has been updated to include comments made by Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan at last night’s Mayor and Council meeting.)
OCEAN CITY – For the first time since the police department unionized, the Ocean City lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police’s membership has voted to go to arbitration with the Town of Ocean City as the two parties have come to a standoff during negotiations.
“As of right now, we have kind of reached an impasse. We are still working towards coming up with a resolution without arbitration. However, we have notified the city of our intent to go to arbitration,” Ocean City Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge 10 President Shawn Jones said.
In the spirit of wanting to come to a resolution, Jones did not want to go into detail of the dispute but he did indicate it is in regards to pay and benefits.
“Unfortunately, we are so far apart from where our membership feels we need to be. In 2008, we conceded our Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA) and we haven’t had a Cost Of Living Adjustment since 2008, so we are going on seven years without that type of adjustment,” Jones said. “We negotiated for four and half days and just weren’t able to come close to an agreement.”
The FOP’s legal counsel has contacted City Solicitor Guy Ayres letting him know the FOP membership has voted to go to arbitration if the city is not willing to reconsider.
“We are disappointed in the city’s position on things. As of right now, we are filing for arbitration but if we are able to get back to the table and work out a deal we would be interested in doing so,” Jones said. “As of right now, the ball is in their court.”
Arbitration would begin in upcoming weeks as the City Charter states an agreement must be reached by March 1.
The FOP negotiated its first contract in 2004 after a referendum was approved by city voters, and in over 10 years the point of arbitration has never been reached.
“Whenever the city has approached us to concede contractually obligated Steps, COLAs, things of that nature we have worked with the city, even when times were tough back in the recession to do what we could to avoid going to that process,” Jones said. “We have always had a good working relationship with the current council, so I am not really sure what it is. From what we have been seeing, the city is in a sound financial footing, so we don’t believe it is that. We are just not really sure where it is coming from. We are frankly surprised with the posture the city has taken.”
Both the FOP and International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) Local 4269 last reached union contract agreements in February 2013. The FOP was under a two-year contract while the IAFF is under a three-year contract. The Fire Department’s contract expires next year and will head toward negotiations at that time.
At last night’s Mayor and Council meeting, Mayor Rick Meehan confirmed the stalemate between the city and the FOP’s bargaining unit. He said it’s important for the city’s residents to be aware of the process and where it stood at this point.
“Unfortunately, after five days of negotiations, we were unable to come to an agreement with the bargaining unit for the FOP on a new contract. The current contract expires on July 1, 2015. The negotiations were professional and cordial and although the goal of both parties was to come to an agreement we have been unable to do so at this point,” Meehan said. “Once one party declares an impasse, the arbitration procedure begins. We have been notified by the FOP and their attorney they have declared an impasse. At this point, the arbitration will begin. We will make sure to keep everybody informed on that. This is the first time under binding interest arbitration with the FOP and the police department that we have reached an impasse. It’s unfortunate because I think we have a great working relationship with the police department and like I said earlier they do a fabulous job for the Town of Ocean City. We just weren’t able to come to an agreement on some of the terms, conditions and numbers. That’s why the arbitration process in place. With the glass half full, we are hoping it doesn’t come to that but it looks like that’s the direction we are headed. … the two sides have agreed to disagree at this point.”