In Santa Paula the POA negotiating team, led by its president, Ken Clark handled  negotiations very well for its members.  Santa Paula POA was pushing for a longer term contract to get through the economic downturn and address some of its compensation issues with the City.  The City however was reluctant to put significant funds on the table for a long term contract and we settled on a 1 year MOU.  The MOU calls for an 8% increase for Sergeants, 7% increase for Senior Officers and a 6% increase for Police Officers, retroactive to January 1 of 2008.  Specialty pays were also significantly increased in this contract.  FTO's will now receive $1 per hour for each hour he or she has a trainee or reserve officer, the FTO supervisor will receive a 5% increase, Canine Officers will receive an increase from $80 per month to $210 per month and Detectives who will rotate their on-call shall receive $100 per week for being on-call.  Uniform pay was increased to $1,750 per year.  Finally, the Association received a one time signing bonus of $50,000 to divide among its members. 

As many contracts soon expire (June 30) there are several POA's currently in negotiations.  I look forward to reporting on successful conclusions to these negotiations in the coming months.