Suttle, council at odds on talks

Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle and the City Council are at odds over whether council members should be at the bargaining table during contract negotiations with the city’s police union.

Suttle wants the council at the table. The council disagrees.

In a letter to the mayor Wednesday, council President Garry Gernandt and Vice President Franklin Thompson declined the mayor’s invitation to be present during negotiations.

“Involvement in detailed labor negotiations would not allow us to complete an independent and unbiased review of the negotiated settlement,” they wrote.

The councilmen also said that their participation “would predetermine our vote for approval, or, possibly require us to abstain from voting.”

Suttle fired back, in a letter that was to be delivered to the two council members Thursday. He said the council should sit at the table, as council members had said earlier they would.

On Tuesday, a unanimous council voted to make changes to the mayor’s proposed police contract.

The changes would require police to put more of their paychecks into the troubled police and fire pension fund. The changes also would revise the way pensions are calculated; for instance, new recruits’ pensions would be figured on their base pay only.

And the proposed five-year contract would become a three-year deal, with wage increases only in the last year.

Aaron Hanson, president of the police union, said Wednesday that if council members aren’t involved in contract negotiations, “we’re going to have a repeat . . . of the political quagmire we’re in right now.”

“This type of behavior is not going to solve these problems for taxpayers and police officers,” Hanson said. “These problems will only be solved by sitting across the table from each other. Throwing tomatoes from the balcony is not going to solve this.”

In his letter, Suttle reminded Gernandt and Thompson that the new proposals were the council’s, not his.

“The presence of City Council members means those with ownership of the proposals will be present to speak to the merits of these amendments,” the mayor wrote.

Council members normally are not involved in labor talks.

In an interview Wednesday, Gernandt said that when he and Thompson were invited to join Suttle in the contract negotiations, they initially supported the idea.

However, in their letter to the mayor, Gernandt and Thompson wrote that they sought the opinions of three private attorneys, who advised against the council’s participation. In addition, their letter cited a Feb. 25 opinion from City Attorney Paul Kratz, in which he said: “It would be inappropriate for City Council members to discuss or negotiate any terms or provisions of the union contract.”

The council has postponed a final vote on the contract until April 27. That’s intended to give the union time to review the council’s proposals, recommend possible changes and put a revised contract to a union vote.

Contact the writer:

444-3100, maggie.obrien@owh.com

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