Arcadia POA has recently concluded one of the most aggressive negotiation campaigns in recent history. The POA, led by its President Troy Hernandez and Vice President Mike Hale new it had an uphill battle dealing with an entrenched City Manager and City Council who publicly maintained that they were not going to "move" from the City's position in negotiations. The POA members rose to the occasion in Arcadia to take on the entrenched City Council. The barrage, which lasted less than two months, included recorded phone messages to the public, mailers, hand-outs, and a rather large billboard in town. The crafted message was that the City Council, although claiming to prioritize public safety, in fact was running it into the ground by not remaining competitive in the local market. The City reluctantly agreed with the Community's out cry to prioritize public safety and was forced to "move" from its position to where the POA obtained one of the best contracts in its history.

After several months of not getting anywhere at the table using Silver, Hadden & Silver, the POA decided it would take a more serious approach and hired Lackie & Dammeier to handle negotiations. At the first negotiations meeting I attended, it was clear the City did not have the requisite respect for the police association that it should have. That needed to change in order to have meaningful and fair negotiations take place.

Within days of our negotiations meeting, the overwhelming majority of the membership was picketing outside the next City Council meeting, asking for the community and the City Council to support their police department. At this Council meeting a number of officers spoke out at the lack of resources being provided by the City to the police department and the resulting reduced ability to police the City. The POA was able to get officers who had left Arcadia for other agencies to speak at the Council meeting and explain the reasons why they left. The Mayor openly maintained that the City's position was fair and would provide the necessary resources for the police department to attract and retain quality officers. These comments by the Mayor only served to rally the members of the police department against the City's ridiculous position.

The next volley included recorded phone messages and mailers to all registered voter households in the City. This information included the fact that the City Council's inaction had led to 12 experienced officers leaving to other agencies from Arcadia in the last two years. The message also included that police staffing was currently short 15 police officers (40% of the patrol staff). The POA then put up a billboard illustrating the same facts with a title of "Leaving Arcadia Defenseless is a Crime" and "Call your Councilperson today."

Within six weeks the respect that had diminished over the last decade for the Police Association had been fully restored. The City, as result of the Community's demand to prioritize public safety, finally decided to reach a fair deal. The Mayor and new City Manager (prior City Manager retired during the fight) and the POA sat down and came to a resolution.

The Agreement calls for a 26% compensation package over the next three years. Notably, year one includes a 10% salary increase, a 4% increase in 2009 and a 3.5% salary increase for 2010. The POA wanted to put the maxim salary up front in the contract to get back into a competitive position in the market place. Medical increased over the period of the contract a total of $334 per month maxing out at the end of the contract to $1,041per month. Uniform allowance went up from $400 per year to $750. An item the City for years refused to address was specialty pay. The POA was able to obtain this new benefit of specialty pay of 5% for FTO's (training or not) detectives, traffic and personnel and training. Additionally, the Agreement also calls for $750 annual stipend for part-time special assignments. Other increases took place in bilingual pay, floating holiday, tuition reimbursement and life insurance coverage. Finally, POST pay was also increased by 1% taking it to 5% for an Intermediate POST Certificate and 11% for an Advanced POST Certificate.

As is normally the case, the Arcadia POA, in its time of struggle called for and obtained assistance from PORAC's local Chapter as well as surrounding POA's who provided support. Arcadia POA is already returning this favor to its neighbor Monrovia POA who is currently proceeding through the same fight. Arcadia's POA membership and leadership should be commended for the courage and dedication it illustrated during this time.

About the author: Dieter C. Dammeier is an LDF panel attorney and chief negotiator for the clients of Lackie & Dammeier.