At the beginning of the regular meeting of the Van Buren Township Board of Trustees on April 21, VBT Public Safety Director Gregory Laurain read the following statement to board members.
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In light of recent articles to our local news media regarding practices and scheduling of Public Safety personnel, I find it imperative that I respond to you and our residents on behalf of our Public Safety Department.
It has been past practice for many years that the crossed-trained employees are able to utilize accrued time off (comp, personal, vacation) to work fire department shifts. There has been no previous policy prohibiting them from using accrued time to work for the township in another capacity. This practice in the recent years has steadily increased due to the inability to retain sufficient fire personnel to fill fire department shifts.
The Affordable Health Care Act (AHCA) has also restricted the amount of hours each paid on-call firefighter can work per week causing more open monthly shifts. These open shifts create staffing problems and because crossed-trained employees are already full-time within the township, they are not restricted under the AHCA and are usually the most available to cover the open shifts.
The crossed-trained employees are covered under their respective Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) to include POLC Command Officer, POLC Patrol/Dispatch Personnel and AFSCME, which covers the Ordinance Officer. Each cross-trained employee is also covered under the Michigan Association of firefighter (MAFF) CBA.
No police employees have abandoned their full-time position, only schedules have been adjusted to accommodate both departments. This practice has assisted with staffing at the fire stations as needed to provide an adequate number of personnel in an emergency response. Even operating under this practice there are still times the fire shifts run short. There is no policy or contract violation and certainly nothing criminal is occurring. Proper fire department staffing has been our focus.
Over the last year the Public Safety Management Team and the Township Board have worked aggressively to change past practices and reduce costly staffing coverage at the fire department. This along with negotiating with four separate labor unions is the township’s attempt to establish best practices.
Over the last several months, the Public Safety Management Team and the Township Board have been working collectively and have made several changes by revising and adopting the following:
• Resolution 2014-13 May 2014 (Prohibits any future township personnel to be employed in more than one job classification with the township.)
• Successful negotiation of contractual language concerning 18-hour Rule with POLC Patrol/Dispatchers in October 2014.
• Resolution 2015-07 March 3, 2015 (Prohibits an employee from using accrued time to work for the township in some other classification.)
• Revising current police department Secondary-Interdepartmental Employment Policy March 5, 2015 (To include the 18-hour Rule and minimum 6 hours off before returning to work at the police department.)
In conclusion: These changes that have been initiated are the best practices for Public Safety and our community as we move forward. Since March 3, 2015, NO police employees are allowed to work at the fire department while on accrued time at the police department. While employees are performing police functions, they are limited to a maximum of 18 hours of work time for the township in a 24-hour day.
In closing: Several years ago we asked our police officer [sic] to help us by cross training them as fire fighters to assist in filling open shifts on the duty crew. A few of them stepped forward unconditionally and took on this added responsibility to assist with staffing our fire stations.
Over the years they continued to assist in maintaining staffing levels as needed along with working their full-time police job. Now some of these same officers are being portrayed negatively by people, because of the number of hours they have worked for the township.
Though some may not agree with our past scheduling practices, these crossed-trained employees worked within the parameters of the policies and collective bargaining agreements of the police and fire departments and provided public safety service for both departments and for our community. They are all dedicated professional employees who safeguard our community.
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20 Comments
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Until another entity does the investigation, this is just damage control and very weak at that. Weak statement Greg “past practices” is all you got? You are a disappointment of a director, please retire Yesterday.
Why hasn’t Laurain, Besson and floral been fired yet?
I would have stepped up unconditionally to work the Fire Department as well. Who wouldn’t like to make that kind of money. Please tell the people the full truth Director Laurain, not all PD Officers were allowed to cross-train (we even asked and were denied). There was no call for help and there were other avenues that could have taken place. I know that the former fire chief had many plans but he was subsequently fired for whatever reaon. The last resort was not to pay blended rate. The old Director had a vision of a public safety, but it failed. Now you have a few money hungry guys that aren’t doing this service for the community, they are doing it to pad their pockets. Please don’t insult the public with this garbage. This is pure damage control as the other person described. Wake up and smell the coffee. And one more thing, about the allegations of shift abandonment, you state no that at no time did Floro abandon his shift. Do the statements of witnesses not count? What about former and current employees who have experienced situations when he left shift? My humble opinion is that you make yourself looked very uninformed in this statement.
Did Mr. Laurain write this statement? I would make sure someone proof reads before distribution to print! Terrible grammar and a whopper of a contradiction. I’m sure the attorney’s will eat this one up.
I seen the same thing and can’t wait until he exits the department. I hope he is fired soon.
I am an employee in the Township and I for one am sick of the negativity that is really interupting our daily jobs. The morale inside the township hall is at an all time low. The police department and fire department are divided. No one wants to work with certain individuals because of their lack of work ethic and it is putting our township citizens at risk.
An employee was fired for speaking out against criminal activity and another resigned because of corruption. When is this going to end? It will only end when someone steps up and demands change.
Township employees can’t do that or they will be fired. Unless you are one of the untouchables. Please Linda Combs, don’t be scared to do what the PUBLIC voted you in to do. You are being a coward. Fire Dan Besson and Greg Laurain. Hire from the OUTSIDE and your problems will go away. The problem is at the top and we all know which way crap rolls.
Time to put a biometric timecard in place to stop these corrupt cops from stealing township dollars. How can the po-po expect us to trust them when they are so morally wrong? Cop mentality and they are above the law. Look at the news lately.
A biometric time card is not going to keep these guys from working more than 24 hours straight or calling in sick to PD and then work fd at the same time. It’s just a scheme that the board is overlooking and that laurain doesn’t know how to control his department. They all need to go.
Attorneys will eat this up but first it will be dissected and questioned considerably. I can’t imagine the township attorney would allow this letter to go out to the public and would question that call internally. That is very bold and a bit negligent.
you make a great point. I bet this this letter was written by someOne else and the township attorney set it up so he falls on the sword. You Will probably see the blended rates guys sue the township next. Or at least one Of them.
There seem to be alot if holes in the statement read by the director. If past practice was ok, why the scrambling to change it now? This has been 7 years in the making. Why haven’t any other plans been put into place to keep the costs down? You are also saying it was ok to call in sick to one job and work another? How in the world is this helping the township? Lose coverage on the police side and gain on the fire side. It makes very little sense and seems like a scheme to me and pretty much anyone you ask about this. Is it legally wrong? I don’t know. Is it morally wrong? Yes. It is a scheme that should be against the law.
Abandoning shift is just as bad. My tax dollars shouldn’t be used to pay 2 salaries (becasue that’s what it boils down to) and then the fireman or policeman (whatever he is that day) is not there to do either job. Same for the chief, word on the street is he takes his kids to school out of the district everyday on the clock. Is there a policy about an honest days wage anywhere? IF not, the board should write one. The board has failed the township yet again. Don’t get me started on their visteon bond failure. We are screwed van buren township!
ToLaurain’s defense he never said the past practices were moral. The police personality serves to insulate officers from the rest of society. It fosters an “us versus them” mentality. The cops are the good guys and everyone else is a potential bad guy. There is a constant power struggle between the good and bad guys. Police believe that societal order depends on the good guys winning — at any cost. Even when they ARE the bad guys. When anyone challenges the police, the police defend their right to enforce control and authority. Even if it means breaking the law. Officers must trust each other to provide assistance and back-up in their struggle to maintain control. This means they will cover up criminal acts for the most part.
When an officer is in trouble on the job or in trouble with his wife or girlfriend at home, he counts on his buddies to cover for him. He gives them a story that explains why he “had to do” whatever he did (just like the time card abuse as Laurain is trying to raitionalize it). Whether or not they personally condone his behavior, they may rationalize his behavior, saying he was stressed out, under a lot of pressure, or quite simply, that he’s only human. They repeat his version of the story and they stick to that version. They put themselves on the line with their fellow officer. Whether testifying in court or smoothing things out at home, the rules are simple for them:
■Say as little as possible.
■Answer only the question asked.
■Don’t give details.
■Deny all accusations.
■Say “I don’t remember, I didn’t see that, or I don’t know.”
In my experiences in court, thee “I do not recall” statement is very popular among Police Officers. This must be true code. However, many judges find it insulting to their intelligence. The better attorney’s will use it to their advantage.
I’m fed up with all this whining and moaning about what’s right and what’s not…be happy there are people willing to cross train! I’m sure all you whiners would be quite upset if they had no one to respond if your house was on fire or your family member was having a heart attack! How many of you have to work two jobs to make ends meet? Try to live somewhere like Detroit where the response time is way longer….there is always going to be an upset with government and all my life here in Van Buren there has been controversy, as there is everywhere! I think it boils down to a few butt hurt individuals who got kicked off the board…sorry but terms come to an end…controversy is everywhere and not everyone is going to like what is going on…but because my life was saved I commend PD and FD for the job they do! Think about that next time you have a fire or your heart stops beating….who will be there? There is no need for all the childish behavior…life goes on
Cross-Trained departments do not work. It’s been tried and most fail do to lack of equipment and response times. Van Buren is not a true “cross trained public safety department” and it never will be. In the case of this township, it would be more beneficial to look into hiring a few more full-tim fire personnel and supplementing with Part-time / paid on call. This seems to work for most departments. None the less, I would never question the service our Police or Fire give to the community, I believe they all sacrifice so much to serve the city they work in, however when you have employees working more than 24 hours straight you have to ask the question “Is this safe”? Safe for themselves and the people they serve. You can face life and death decisions on the job and let’s be real, we are all human and can make the wrong call on a full night sleep. Let us not cloud judgment and put anyone at higher risk because we are trying to make as much money as possible.
I try not to judge, but I have a hard time swallowing the whole “we are helping out our community by taking on 2 jobs that pay a very nice wage”. Not to say that there aren’t “cross trianed” employees that really care, it makes you wonder if it’s secondary to their income status. I also wonder if there have been police who were not asked to be a part of this small cross trained group as the above poster stated. I’d like to hear more about that as well.
I’m sure it will all spill out in the scandal of 2015.
And many many cities across the U.S. Do the blended rate…
I don’t think there is whining, I just think there are people concerned for the way tax dollars are being spent. The biggest concern is not blended wage in itself, it’s the misuse of hours Or time spent on the job. You probably know that time cards are viewable to the public via Freedom Of Information Act and the fact of the matter is a that some individuals can use a sick day or a vacation day and/or a comp day in one capacity work another and thEssentially be absent from that post as video tapes show. That is the concern. I believe the Director felt it was a concern as it was addressed and now regulated. If he felt it wasn’t an issue, I believe that they would have continued with past practices. Before you say that know one left their shift, there are plenty of eye witnesses.
That’s a good argument, many other cities are doing it.
Frankly, I’m fed up with the excuse that these people are saving lives, etc. That doesn’t make it right to not be on the job you are paid to do. You are bunching everyone together and that is unfair to those brave souls who actually earn their paycheck.
I am personally disgusted that my tax dollars are being misused and filling the pockets of crooks at the township. There is no transparency as there used to be and everyone who cares about their money should question our elected officials. If you look at their recent behavior it would make you wonder what they are doing and how they are treating people.