Three members of the Van Buren Township Board of Trustees refused to approve the Police Officers Labor Council (POLC) command unit contract at Tuesday’s meeting, but four others voted yes and ratified the contract.
It runs from Jan. 1, 2014 through Dec. 31, 2017. It’s been in negotiation for years. The contract already had been ratified by the union, so it’s now in effect.
Trustee Jeff Jahr, an attorney, said he didn’t get information on all the TA’s (technical agreements) and he was being asked to accept what he hasn’t seen.
“It’s a let’s vote on it and we’ll tell you what it means,” Jahr said and John Delaney called out from the audience, “Like Nancy Pelosi.”
Jahr voted “emphatically no” during the roll-call vote on the contract. Also voting no were Trustees Phil Hart and Reggie Miller. Hart asked for an electronic or hard copy of the contract so he could see what he was voting on, but there was no move to furnish him such a copy.
The discussion at the board table was so unruly that Supervisor Linda Combs called for a five-minute recess. Clerk Wright, Miller and Hart went into the back room to discuss the situation and Jahr was refused admittance because it would have been a quorum. During and after the meeting negotiators Clerk Wright and Treasurer Budd announced no details to the public. Not a good scene before a millage vote.
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4 Comments
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This is just more reason to vote down a dirty millage. This board is making it very difficult to show our support for the police and fire workers in our township. I can not willfully give the township more money until they start being honest and upfront. It is to bad the election went the way it did. such a shame.
Steve, there will be 4 new members on the Board, who did not have any say in the negotiation or Board approval of the contract or process.
Why are Leon Wright and Sharry Budd trying to negotiate contracts? They’ve had years to deal with blended rate. Appears to be cronyism again and again. The township needs to hire a professional.
Budd is the reason there is a blended-rate, so now she’s supposed to negotiate it away? or phase it out? You’re right a professional needs to be negotiating this contract for reasons of being less biased. I agree with Steve above and Diane; it’s such a shame the way the election resulted in a career politician being put back in charge and the new supervisor will fall in line behind the “queen bee” and let’s wait and see which trustee will fall in line to be a worker bee.