We just got word the other day that the Labor Board will be aiming for July 15th to begin hearing cases virtually. We have five pending cases right now, some of the more intensive ones like the Sergeant's test will probably be more difficult for us to effectively present remotely but the other side will have all the same challenges we do. This isn't our optimal solution as we'd much prefer in person hearings, but we're being told those may not begin until the fall, so this is our best chance to get things rolling again in a reasonable time frame. We don't have any dates yet, and I'm sure there are a lot of people waiting in line, but we'll update those involved once we know.
Our usual meeting spot is opening back up, but I assume they want to keep the capacity down for now so we're going to hold off until September to start having regular meetings again. If there's anything going on that needs our attention please reach out to anyone on the executive board.
Monday, June 29, 2020
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
More Delays
We just got word today that the Labor Board is cancelling hearings scheduled for July and is now scheduling into August. This means our hearing for the Sergeant's test grievance that was scheduled for July 2nd will be postponed to a later date.
Additionally we haven't heard anything about rescheduling the Personnel Appeals Board hearings yet so we don't have a timetable for that resuming yet.
Additionally we haven't heard anything about rescheduling the Personnel Appeals Board hearings yet so we don't have a timetable for that resuming yet.
Thursday, June 11, 2020
Union Vote Coming Up
Reminder to anyone who isn't aware, there's a vote coming up on June 16th, see your email for details. Show up in the break room from 0630 to 1630 to vote or contact Secretary Napolitano for an absentee ballot.
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
May Update
Quick update here, nothing much has changed since we last posted. All hearings at the Labor Board are still on hold, as well as the Personnel Appeals Board. We do have a July date scheduled at the Labor Board for the Sergeant's Test grievance that hasn't been cancelled yet so we're hopeful we will actually get a hearing on that date.
Our contract negotiating meetings were also cancelled, but we may be getting those going again towards the end of this month.
We're not going to hold a monthly meeting for May due to current gathering restrictions and also there just isn't much to update everyone on. We don't normally hold meetings over the summer but we're going to try to have one in June to make up for the last few we missed and hopefully we will have some new info to pass on by then. Check back here for dates.
As always if you have any concerns, feel free to give one of us a call. Stay safe and look out for each other.
Our contract negotiating meetings were also cancelled, but we may be getting those going again towards the end of this month.
We're not going to hold a monthly meeting for May due to current gathering restrictions and also there just isn't much to update everyone on. We don't normally hold meetings over the summer but we're going to try to have one in June to make up for the last few we missed and hopefully we will have some new info to pass on by then. Check back here for dates.
As always if you have any concerns, feel free to give one of us a call. Stay safe and look out for each other.
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Update to the Last Post
Just wanted to update that it's been a week since our last post on here and EHPD is still diligently checking employee's temperatures with a known faulty thermometer. I just personally finished my work week and never checked in above an indicated 93 degrees, and one day even came in as low as 89 degrees. So unfortunately the Administration's game of pretending they're looking out for us continues.
Monday, April 13, 2020
Security Theater
A few weeks ago Chief Sansom put together a "COVID-19 task force" that meets several times a week to come up with ways to help safeguard our employees. At first a few productive and helpful things came out of these meetings such as getting disinfectant wipes in the cruisers, closing the lobby to the public, answering minor calls over the phone and limiting unnecessary contact between squads as we wrote here in an earlier post. However like most of these types of efforts go, after the initial batch of helpful ideas came out the pressure was still on them to come up with new ideas. So they started delving deeper to justify their existence with new, less helpful ideas.
When we first met with this task force the first thing we noticed was that of the six people on it, three Deputy Chiefs and three Lieutenants, not a single one of them is directly involved with the Patrol Division. Patrol are of course the only ones actually on the front lines out dealing with potentially sick people in the public. So it just seems like common sense to bring someone into these meetings who's actually involved day to day and has some perspective on what those employees are going through and need. But instead Chief Sansom picked six people who all work upstairs far removed from the street, this seems like an odd choice to us.
Here are some of the measures the Union presented that were shot down; as we previously wrote about on here we proposed that employees who had a potential exposure or fell ill be given Administrative leave and/or covered under Worker's Compensation instead of being forced to use their own accrued time off, which the Chief refused. Fortunately for us President Trump and Congress stepped up with legislation to help give us some extra time off specifically for Coronavirus related issues as of April 1st. While we're really glad the Federal Government is helping us out, it's still disappointing to know that our own Chief and Mayor refused to do anything to help us without being forced to by the Feds. Of course even with the Feds forcing their hand the Town still had to take a swipe at our Union by telling people that if you did use any of that Federally guaranteed time off they would count it against your earned days. They just can't help themselves when they see an opportunity to screw over their employees.
Another idea we brought to the Chief was to allow anyone in a public facing position who falls into a defined high risk group due to medical condition or age, to have the option of voluntarily going on Administrative Duty temporarily so they can work in house and potentially reduce their risk of exposure. As far as we know this was never put into effect, probably because it would incur overtime costs, though probably not much as I don't think we have too many people who fall into these risk groups.
One of the task force's ideas that got put into motion last week is the checking of temperatures at the beginning of your shift and sending people home if they have a fever. This is ineffective for a few reasons, the most obvious one being that the thermometer they bought for doing this task is wildly inaccurate. Most of our employees are being checked in with temperatures in the high 80's and low 90's, some as low as 83 degrees. Of course if that was anyone's actual body temperature they'd be dead of hypothermia long before the virus got them. Knowing how the Town of East Hartford works I wouldn't be surprised if they just walked across the street to Dollar Tree and picked this piece of junk out of the clearance bin with the 3 for $5 DVDs so we can save money to buy more laptops for non-essential employees to work from home.
It's also been well documented and well known at this point in the pandemic that a person can carry and spread the virus without having a fever and many people are in fact completely asymptomatic. And even when you do show symptoms you may not have a fever until you're several days in, so a fever is hardly the defining symptom. Checking temperatures makes sense at a store or other public facility where you have unknown people walking in and out, but in a workplace with the same small group of people every day it really accomplishes nothing other than annoying your employees and creating an atmosphere of distrust. This is especially true when you're doing it with a broken thermometer that gives laughably inaccurate readings. Most people can feel when they have a fever and our members are trustworthy enough that they wouldn't come to work knowingly sick and put their co-workers and their families at risk.
The task force has also gone so far as to put up occupancy limit signs in certain rooms in the building like the report writing room, gym, and Watch Commander's office and putting obscure tape markings on the floor. We understand what the intent is with this but the reality is we're all sharing cars, touching the same door handles, railings, car books, keyboards, keys, paperwork, phones. And then once we're out on the street we're going to calls together in cramped apartments and stairwells, sometimes we even roll around on the ground with suspects together. Close contact and cross contamination between employees is inevitable in our line of work. Trying to put these restrictions in place inside the building just creates an awkward work environment and puts more stress on people during an already stressful time.
Of course none of this is about being effective or actually accomplishing anything. It's security theater meant to make it look like something is being done, similar to what the TSA does at airports. In the case of the TSA they at least accomplish the goal of creating an intimidating process that acts as a deterrent. But viruses don't get intimidated or deterred, you either have it or you don't. We think the better approach is to trust your employees and work with them instead of treating them like suspects or idiots. We hope the task force will consider next time they come up with an idea, how effective will it actually be and realize that sometimes you've done all you can for the time being and can take your foot off the accelerator. Don't just do things because you feel like you need to do something or because someone else is doing it.
Overall we think all of our members are doing a great job handling this situation so far with common sense and caution while still doing effective Police work. Hopefully we'll all be through this soon and back to our regular routines.
When we first met with this task force the first thing we noticed was that of the six people on it, three Deputy Chiefs and three Lieutenants, not a single one of them is directly involved with the Patrol Division. Patrol are of course the only ones actually on the front lines out dealing with potentially sick people in the public. So it just seems like common sense to bring someone into these meetings who's actually involved day to day and has some perspective on what those employees are going through and need. But instead Chief Sansom picked six people who all work upstairs far removed from the street, this seems like an odd choice to us.
Here are some of the measures the Union presented that were shot down; as we previously wrote about on here we proposed that employees who had a potential exposure or fell ill be given Administrative leave and/or covered under Worker's Compensation instead of being forced to use their own accrued time off, which the Chief refused. Fortunately for us President Trump and Congress stepped up with legislation to help give us some extra time off specifically for Coronavirus related issues as of April 1st. While we're really glad the Federal Government is helping us out, it's still disappointing to know that our own Chief and Mayor refused to do anything to help us without being forced to by the Feds. Of course even with the Feds forcing their hand the Town still had to take a swipe at our Union by telling people that if you did use any of that Federally guaranteed time off they would count it against your earned days. They just can't help themselves when they see an opportunity to screw over their employees.
Another idea we brought to the Chief was to allow anyone in a public facing position who falls into a defined high risk group due to medical condition or age, to have the option of voluntarily going on Administrative Duty temporarily so they can work in house and potentially reduce their risk of exposure. As far as we know this was never put into effect, probably because it would incur overtime costs, though probably not much as I don't think we have too many people who fall into these risk groups.
One of the task force's ideas that got put into motion last week is the checking of temperatures at the beginning of your shift and sending people home if they have a fever. This is ineffective for a few reasons, the most obvious one being that the thermometer they bought for doing this task is wildly inaccurate. Most of our employees are being checked in with temperatures in the high 80's and low 90's, some as low as 83 degrees. Of course if that was anyone's actual body temperature they'd be dead of hypothermia long before the virus got them. Knowing how the Town of East Hartford works I wouldn't be surprised if they just walked across the street to Dollar Tree and picked this piece of junk out of the clearance bin with the 3 for $5 DVDs so we can save money to buy more laptops for non-essential employees to work from home.
It's also been well documented and well known at this point in the pandemic that a person can carry and spread the virus without having a fever and many people are in fact completely asymptomatic. And even when you do show symptoms you may not have a fever until you're several days in, so a fever is hardly the defining symptom. Checking temperatures makes sense at a store or other public facility where you have unknown people walking in and out, but in a workplace with the same small group of people every day it really accomplishes nothing other than annoying your employees and creating an atmosphere of distrust. This is especially true when you're doing it with a broken thermometer that gives laughably inaccurate readings. Most people can feel when they have a fever and our members are trustworthy enough that they wouldn't come to work knowingly sick and put their co-workers and their families at risk.
The task force has also gone so far as to put up occupancy limit signs in certain rooms in the building like the report writing room, gym, and Watch Commander's office and putting obscure tape markings on the floor. We understand what the intent is with this but the reality is we're all sharing cars, touching the same door handles, railings, car books, keyboards, keys, paperwork, phones. And then once we're out on the street we're going to calls together in cramped apartments and stairwells, sometimes we even roll around on the ground with suspects together. Close contact and cross contamination between employees is inevitable in our line of work. Trying to put these restrictions in place inside the building just creates an awkward work environment and puts more stress on people during an already stressful time.
Of course none of this is about being effective or actually accomplishing anything. It's security theater meant to make it look like something is being done, similar to what the TSA does at airports. In the case of the TSA they at least accomplish the goal of creating an intimidating process that acts as a deterrent. But viruses don't get intimidated or deterred, you either have it or you don't. We think the better approach is to trust your employees and work with them instead of treating them like suspects or idiots. We hope the task force will consider next time they come up with an idea, how effective will it actually be and realize that sometimes you've done all you can for the time being and can take your foot off the accelerator. Don't just do things because you feel like you need to do something or because someone else is doing it.
Overall we think all of our members are doing a great job handling this situation so far with common sense and caution while still doing effective Police work. Hopefully we'll all be through this soon and back to our regular routines.
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
EHPOA Fundraiser on Hold
We've asked our fundraising company to suspend their phone and mail operations on our behalf for the time being with so many people out of work. We invite anyone who wants to help us out to instead donate new, unused PPE (Masks, gloves, gowns, face shields etc...) if you have any extra that you can part with. You can bring it to the Police Station, the lobby is currently closed to the Public but if you call the non emergency line (860-528-4401) they can have someone meet you in the parking lot. Thank you.
Tuesday, March 17, 2020
Department Measures Related to the Corona Virus [UPDATED]
Information has been a bit scarce and there seems to be some confusion going on around the Department. We're just putting up this post wth the little that we currently know so that folks can utilize the comments section to share their concerns and comments about the measures the Town has taken so far.
Originally we had heard that if any employees got sick that it would be covered under worker's comp no questions asked to encourage people not to come to work sick and possily spread it. But the Mayor's email yesterday stated that if employees get sick they'd have to use their own accrued time off and provide proof to the Town that they were sick, we assume in the form of a doctor's note. I think that's a bad idea as people may come to work anyway to avoid using up their time off. Or they will be going to the doctor unecessarily even though they have mild symptoms as most with the virus do just to get a note, which could cause unnecessary traffic at Doctor's offices who should be focusing on more critical patients.
I'd like to see, at least for first reponders, that we just get covered under worker's comp if we get sick for the duration of this issue. Of course if you can prove you got sick at work you should be covered anyway, but I don't see how anyone can definitively prove that. Especially in a Town where they're so aggressive about worker's comp cases that they tried to deny coverage to employees who got run over by cars on duty by claiming they had pre-existing conditions.
The Mayor also stated that all Town buildings would be closed to the public, but as of today the lobby of our building is still open to everyone. We're not sure if that policy will apply to us or not.
We've seen other area PDs instituting policies of allowing Officers to take reports for minor complaints over the phone instead of sending an Officer to someone's home unnecessarily. I think this is a great idea as it limits exposure in people's homes and is something that larger Departments do even under normal circumstances. So far we haven't heard anything about EHPD implementing this kind of policy.
We have been issued some PPE kits and there's disinfecting wipes in all the cars. Obviously this is a rapidly evolving situation and we expect the Admin is still working on getting more done in the coming days. We know they read this blog, so use the comments section to relay your opinions and concerns about what you think they're doing right, and what more you think they can do.
UPDATE 3-20-2020......
In the past week we've seen the Chief authorize Officers to respond to non emergency calls via telephone like many other Departments. We think that's a great move to limit exposure. The lobby at our Headquarters has also been closed to the public which is especially important at EHPD where our building layout requires crossing the lobby to get from one end of the building to the other unless you use the basement or second floor. We'd like to applaud the Admin for taking these measures.
Unfortunately the Admin refused to cover time off for employees who have been exposed saying that they will have to use their own accrued time for any missed work or be docked pay if they don't have any accrued time. Their opinion seems to be that they shouldn't have to cover you for free because if you get sick that's your problem. While we agree that under normal circumstances folks should use their own time, these are not normal circumstances and the Department should be doing everything they can to encourage employees who may have been exposed to voluntarily come forward and stay home without worrying about a personal cost to prevent the potential spread of sickness through the Department and community we are in contact with. This seems like trying to pinch pennies when one slip up could end up costing thousands, it just doesn't seem worth it.
The Chief did say that when this was all over they'd try to seek Federal or State reimbursement to get people their time off back, but that's not a sure thing and seems unnecessary when he could just choose to put anyone on Administrative leave without any red tape and then seek reimbursement for that later on. Of course that means the Town has to come out of their own pocket initially instead of ours and they'd take the hit if they cant get reimbursed down the line.
That's all we have for now. Stay safe out there everyone.
Originally we had heard that if any employees got sick that it would be covered under worker's comp no questions asked to encourage people not to come to work sick and possily spread it. But the Mayor's email yesterday stated that if employees get sick they'd have to use their own accrued time off and provide proof to the Town that they were sick, we assume in the form of a doctor's note. I think that's a bad idea as people may come to work anyway to avoid using up their time off. Or they will be going to the doctor unecessarily even though they have mild symptoms as most with the virus do just to get a note, which could cause unnecessary traffic at Doctor's offices who should be focusing on more critical patients.
I'd like to see, at least for first reponders, that we just get covered under worker's comp if we get sick for the duration of this issue. Of course if you can prove you got sick at work you should be covered anyway, but I don't see how anyone can definitively prove that. Especially in a Town where they're so aggressive about worker's comp cases that they tried to deny coverage to employees who got run over by cars on duty by claiming they had pre-existing conditions.
The Mayor also stated that all Town buildings would be closed to the public, but as of today the lobby of our building is still open to everyone. We're not sure if that policy will apply to us or not.
We've seen other area PDs instituting policies of allowing Officers to take reports for minor complaints over the phone instead of sending an Officer to someone's home unnecessarily. I think this is a great idea as it limits exposure in people's homes and is something that larger Departments do even under normal circumstances. So far we haven't heard anything about EHPD implementing this kind of policy.
We have been issued some PPE kits and there's disinfecting wipes in all the cars. Obviously this is a rapidly evolving situation and we expect the Admin is still working on getting more done in the coming days. We know they read this blog, so use the comments section to relay your opinions and concerns about what you think they're doing right, and what more you think they can do.
UPDATE 3-20-2020......
In the past week we've seen the Chief authorize Officers to respond to non emergency calls via telephone like many other Departments. We think that's a great move to limit exposure. The lobby at our Headquarters has also been closed to the public which is especially important at EHPD where our building layout requires crossing the lobby to get from one end of the building to the other unless you use the basement or second floor. We'd like to applaud the Admin for taking these measures.
Unfortunately the Admin refused to cover time off for employees who have been exposed saying that they will have to use their own accrued time for any missed work or be docked pay if they don't have any accrued time. Their opinion seems to be that they shouldn't have to cover you for free because if you get sick that's your problem. While we agree that under normal circumstances folks should use their own time, these are not normal circumstances and the Department should be doing everything they can to encourage employees who may have been exposed to voluntarily come forward and stay home without worrying about a personal cost to prevent the potential spread of sickness through the Department and community we are in contact with. This seems like trying to pinch pennies when one slip up could end up costing thousands, it just doesn't seem worth it.
The Chief did say that when this was all over they'd try to seek Federal or State reimbursement to get people their time off back, but that's not a sure thing and seems unnecessary when he could just choose to put anyone on Administrative leave without any red tape and then seek reimbursement for that later on. Of course that means the Town has to come out of their own pocket initially instead of ours and they'd take the hit if they cant get reimbursed down the line.
That's all we have for now. Stay safe out there everyone.
Personnel Appeals Postponed Indefinitely
We just got word yesterday that the three PAB hearings we had scheduled over the next 3 weeks have all been postponed indefinitely due to the Mayor closing Town Hall to evening meetings (Because we all know viruses only come out at night.). We were hoping to be able to wrap this issue up with these three hearings and have a decision by the end of the month, but now we may be pushed into June or even July depending on how long this goes on. I'm sure once Town Hall is re-opened there will be a lot of people vying for time to reschedule all sorts of hearings. Obviously we'd like to get this wrapped up as soon as possible, but that may be out of our hands at this point. We'll keep everyone updated when we find out more.
Friday, March 13, 2020
March Meeting [CANCELED]
Our March regular meeting will be held on Monday the 30th at 1630 in the usual spot. We will discuss updates to the Sergeant's test process as well as the latest with contract negotiations. Our second set of proposals should be exchanged by then so we will have new information. We have a PAB meeting afterwards at 1730 so we will be keeping the meeting brief and to the point. Hope to see you all there.
UPDATE: The Executive Board has decided to cancel this month's meetings. All of our contract meetings have also been canceled as well as PAB and pretty much everything else we're working on so there wouldn't be much to share anyway. We'll use this blog and lineups to keep people in the loop for the time being.
UPDATE: The Executive Board has decided to cancel this month's meetings. All of our contract meetings have also been canceled as well as PAB and pretty much everything else we're working on so there wouldn't be much to share anyway. We'll use this blog and lineups to keep people in the loop for the time being.
Wednesday, February 26, 2020
Postponements and Reschedulings.
Just to update everyone since we've been quiet on here for a couple weeks. The PAB meeting that was scheduled for February 20th was cancelled about 2 hours before it was supposed to start because Town Hall realized they had failed to post notice of it as required by law. The irony here of course is that the hearing was going to closed to public due to the "confidential" documents anyway. But they still are required to post notice to the public that there was going to be a hearing that they wouldn't be allowed to attend because the Town doesn't want anyone, especially the voting, tax paying public, to know the truth about what happened with the Sergeant's test. Of course we shouldn't be surprised that a Town government so incompetent that it can't manage to administer a simple promotional exam without it being mired in scandal and legal action also can't manage to adhere to it's own rules on public meeting notices.
The next PAB meeting isn't scheduled until March 19th at 1730. Again that meeting will most likely be closed to the public.
While we're on the topic of Town Officials shooting themselves in the foot with their own incompetence, at the last PAB hearing before the meeting was closed to the public it was accidentally revealed that the Town showed the "confidential" documents to the lawyer that's representing them in their CHRO defense. This was a point of contention when we were arguing the language for the protective order over the test documents. The Union asked to also be allowed to use the documents in our CHRO case but the Town threw a fit and opposed that saying that these documents weren't relevant to that case (even though the test results are clearly mentioned in the affidavit). The judge decided that the documents could only be used in the PAB hearings and if either party wanted to use them in another venue we'd have to come back and negotiate another order for that specific venue. So by showing these "confidential" documents to their other lawyer that's representing them in the CHRO case, the Town most likely violated the protective order that they asked for in the first place. You really can't make this stuff up, East Hartford must have hired it's attorneys at a job fair when Ringling Brothers went out of business.
On another note we were also scheduled for mediation in our CHRO case for February 25th but that was cancelled by the plaintiff at the last minute, though we were never notified of the cancellation so we showed up anyway. We're not sure right now what or when the next step in that process will be and we don't currently have anything scheduled at this time.
During this process we were made aware of an email from one of the Town's attorneys to the CHRO where she blames the Union and the PAB appellants for causing delay to the process by exercising their legal rights to an appeal and the Union's right to a grievance. These are complete lies as the Union has made several efforts to expedite this process so we can get the Department back to functioning like normal, a desire that the Town should share if they weren't desperately trying to hide what really happened. As we've documented here over the last several months, the Town has done everything in it's power to intentionally delay and draw out this process unnecessarily long. Just last week we made another offer to try and expedite the grievance which the Town again refused. And as I just wrote above, the most recent delay was caused by the Town failing to post the meeting notice, so trying to put the blame on the Union for the delays is a ridiculous proposition.
We are currently scheduled to begin the grievance process for the Sergeant's exam at the Labor Board on March 11th but that may be getting postponed as well as we're still waiting for a decision on the MPP that relates to it.
Otherwise we have a few contract meetings scheduled with the Town over the coming weeks including the first one tomorrow. We have received the Town's initial proposals and shared them at the last meeting. We can't post them here due to a provision in the ground rules but if any member wants to know what they are feel free to ask any member of the committee which is posted on the board in the break room. Please refrain from referencing them in the comment section as we agreed to keep them private during the negotiations process.
We'll keep this space updated but since we're limited in what we can speak about on multiple ongoing matters it may be a while. In the meantime try to attend the meetings as we will be able to discuss more there particularly in regards to contract negotiations.
The next PAB meeting isn't scheduled until March 19th at 1730. Again that meeting will most likely be closed to the public.
While we're on the topic of Town Officials shooting themselves in the foot with their own incompetence, at the last PAB hearing before the meeting was closed to the public it was accidentally revealed that the Town showed the "confidential" documents to the lawyer that's representing them in their CHRO defense. This was a point of contention when we were arguing the language for the protective order over the test documents. The Union asked to also be allowed to use the documents in our CHRO case but the Town threw a fit and opposed that saying that these documents weren't relevant to that case (even though the test results are clearly mentioned in the affidavit). The judge decided that the documents could only be used in the PAB hearings and if either party wanted to use them in another venue we'd have to come back and negotiate another order for that specific venue. So by showing these "confidential" documents to their other lawyer that's representing them in the CHRO case, the Town most likely violated the protective order that they asked for in the first place. You really can't make this stuff up, East Hartford must have hired it's attorneys at a job fair when Ringling Brothers went out of business.
On another note we were also scheduled for mediation in our CHRO case for February 25th but that was cancelled by the plaintiff at the last minute, though we were never notified of the cancellation so we showed up anyway. We're not sure right now what or when the next step in that process will be and we don't currently have anything scheduled at this time.
During this process we were made aware of an email from one of the Town's attorneys to the CHRO where she blames the Union and the PAB appellants for causing delay to the process by exercising their legal rights to an appeal and the Union's right to a grievance. These are complete lies as the Union has made several efforts to expedite this process so we can get the Department back to functioning like normal, a desire that the Town should share if they weren't desperately trying to hide what really happened. As we've documented here over the last several months, the Town has done everything in it's power to intentionally delay and draw out this process unnecessarily long. Just last week we made another offer to try and expedite the grievance which the Town again refused. And as I just wrote above, the most recent delay was caused by the Town failing to post the meeting notice, so trying to put the blame on the Union for the delays is a ridiculous proposition.
We are currently scheduled to begin the grievance process for the Sergeant's exam at the Labor Board on March 11th but that may be getting postponed as well as we're still waiting for a decision on the MPP that relates to it.
Otherwise we have a few contract meetings scheduled with the Town over the coming weeks including the first one tomorrow. We have received the Town's initial proposals and shared them at the last meeting. We can't post them here due to a provision in the ground rules but if any member wants to know what they are feel free to ask any member of the committee which is posted on the board in the break room. Please refrain from referencing them in the comment section as we agreed to keep them private during the negotiations process.
We'll keep this space updated but since we're limited in what we can speak about on multiple ongoing matters it may be a while. In the meantime try to attend the meetings as we will be able to discuss more there particularly in regards to contract negotiations.
Tuesday, February 11, 2020
Update on PAB Hearings
Our next PAB hearing is scheduled for February 20th at 1700 at Town Hall. As of the last hearing the confidential portion has begun so from now until I assume the end of the process the hearings will be closed to the public so our members who aren't witnesses or appellants will no longer be able to attend. We'll keep members updated as best we can without violating the agreement.
February Meeting
Our February regular meeting will be on Thursday the 20th at 1600 at the usual spot. We have a PAB meeting immediately afterwards at 1700 so we're going to keep the meeting brief and will just go over the latest items we've been working on.
Saturday, February 8, 2020
Personnel Appeals Board Hearing February 10th
We have another PAB hearing this Monday at 1700. It's looking like the Town will use their court order to close it off to the public so none of their dirty secrets get out. So unfortunately our members who aren't a party to the order will be unable to attend, and neither will members of the media who have come to a few of the hearings.
The first portion of the hearing may be open to the public while DC Davis testifies, but after that we think it will be closed. So if you want to attend for that portion you may be able to, but we can't guarantee it.
The first portion of the hearing may be open to the public while DC Davis testifies, but after that we think it will be closed. So if you want to attend for that portion you may be able to, but we can't guarantee it.
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