The city of Fort Collins and the Northern Colorado Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 3 have come to a one-year agreement on a 2018 police contract but not without reservations from the FOP.
And the police union plans to take one issue to the voters.
FOP Vice President Chris Renn said the police union vote to ratify the contract "ultimately came down to: Given that we have no mechanism to deal with conflict resolution, it was better to take what was offered than to go without a contract."
But that's not the way city officials see it.
"We reached a tentative agreement on a contract that advances the mutual interests of the city and the FOP to attract and retain a high-quality police force," said city Policy and Project Analyst Tyler Marr.
The contract is pending approval of the City Council, which will hold a special meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday at 300 Laporte Ave. to vote on the contract.
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Renn said the new contract has "none of the elephants" that the FOP defined as needs, including retiree medical benefits and a defined retirement benefit.
"It was not at all what we hoped for, and quite honestly, we didn't get any of the pieces that we think are due, but the city made it very clear that 'this is what you get, and we're not going to move and you have no mechanism to make us,' " Renn said.
Marr, however, said the new agreement is a step toward addressing some of those concerns, including establishing a committee to research retirement plans, compensation packages and retiree medical benefits. The city plans to issue a request for information and then a request for proposals for retiree health care, taking recommendations from the committee for consideration in August.
Additionally, the new proposal calls for a half-percent increase in retirement contributions, a quarter percent increase in retirement health savings, an up to $50,000 one-time stipend to retirees age 55 and older with 20 or more years of service, and a 10 percent payout of sick leave remaining at the end of the year toward retirement health savings accounts, among other changes.
In addition to monetary changes, the contract also makes another key change: Complaints alleging discrimination, retaliation or harassment will be directed to the city manager’s office and will incorporate a three-person impartial review panel and oversight by the Equal Opportunity & Compliance manager.
The agreement comes after the city and police union reached an impasse on the contract in late December.
The FOP collective bargaining unit members met with city officials Thursday, following City Council direction Dec. 19 asking both entities to go back to the negotiating table. FOP members voted at the end of the week, 84 percent to 16 percent, to approve the contract, at the recommendation of the union leadership.
The FOP members approved the one-year contract (rather than the typical two-year contract), "knowing that we would be back to the negotiating table in a few short months."
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Still, Renn said the process continued to be frustrating, with city officials backing out at the last minute on several items, including coming to an agreement on a conflict resolution clause.
But Marr said voters spoke in 2006 against a binding contract and again in 2008, leaving the final decision in the hands of the City Council by a 2005 court order.
Now the FOP is looking at taking it back to the voters again.
"Since the city's not willing to give us any form of conflict resolution, even if it's nonbinding — which the ordinance very clearly allows for — it would have to be something to take to voters ...," Renn said.
The conflict resolution clause is an important one for the collective bargaining unit, Renn said, because negotiations have shown that although city officials ask for trust, they end up going back on their word. With a conflict resolution clause, he said, both entities can get objectivity from a third party, and the city "can't leverage existing working conditions over our members."
"The goal would be neither side would have to use it. ... However, so long as it's not there, then it ends up being collective begging," he said.
The main benefits the FOP asked for this year, he added, are not new issues, some going back to even prior to 2012.
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The focus in future negotiations, Renn said, is going to be on how Fort Collins Police Services benefits stack up compared with benchmark cities and other entities because members don't want to continue falling below the market.
That's an assertion city officials don't agree with. The two entities point to different data to define it.
The new contract to be presented Wednesday has what Renn called "modest improvements" from the contract considered by the council Dec. 19.
"We don't want to continue looking backwards ... (but) we find ourselves in the same cycle every year, and there's no way to fix it because we don't have the tool to get it done," Renn said.
Marr, however, said the new contract is market-based and will continue to provide community members a quality police force they have come to expect and deserve.
Reporter Saja Hindi covers public safety and local politics. You can follow her on Twitter @BySajaHindi or email her at shindi@coloradoan.com.