The council has gone back and forth on the issue, and the Tuesday evening vote took the council a full 360 degrees back to the place where it started nearly a month ago.
“The Lakeport Police Officers Association is extremely concerned regarding the actions of the Lakeport City Council and will be proceeding forward with our response to this contract violation,” Lakeport Police Sgt. Kevin Odom, a Lakeport Police Officers Association board member, said Tuesday evening.
The 2006 memorandum of understanding between the Lakeport Police Officers Association required that the city upgrade the 2 percent at 50 formula to 3 percent at 50 in exchange for some concessions from police, including taking 1 percent less in a cost of living increase, as Lake County News has reported.
At a July 20 council meeting, Councilman Bob Rumfelt moved to approve the plan, which died for lack of a second.
Exactly a week later, in a special six-minute meeting, the council approved the resolution to change the retirement plan in a 3-2 vote, with council members Suzanne Lyons and Ron Bertsch voting no.
City Finance Director Janet Tavernier said at that time that a council decision was required by Aug. 1 in order for the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) to put the plan into place.
Tuesday's meeting was for the purpose of a public hearing on the proposed ordinance amending the contract between the city and CalPERS. It was expected to be the last action necessary to change the retirement plan.
Only one community member spoke – developer Bill Irwin, whose son, Jim, currently sits as mayor on the council.
Bill Irwin said the numbers in the staff report were not correct, and that the city's additional part of the retirement benefit was a 40-percent increase, not a 10-percent increase. A report from Tavernier – who was not present for the meeting – explained that the employer rate would rise from 28 percent to 38 percent.
“It will have dramatic consequences in the future,” Irwin said.
Lyons asked about the $73,000 impact, and asked if that was an annual cost, which it is. She said that doesn't give a picture of the true impact of the new plan.
City Manager Margaret Silveira stated at the July 20 meeting that the $73,000 was included in the coming year's budget, and two police officer positions were being left dark and unfunded.
On Tuesday Rumfelt moved to approve the ordinance, and after a long pause Councilman Roy Parmentier offered a second, but – as he did in the July 27 meeting – he said it was only because of the 2006 promise, telling police, “Come the first of January, there will be changes and you better be ready for them.”
When Mayor Jim Irwin called for the vote, Rumfelt and Parmentier voted yes, Bertsch and Lyons again voted no, and were joined by Irwin, who changed his vote from the previous meeting.
Rumfelt asked City Attorney Steve Brookes if they should be cutting a check to the police for having taken the reduced cost of living concession. “How does that kind of thing stand?”
“That would depend upon the relief, if any, that the association seeks,” said Brookes.
Brookes said the options the association could pursue are asking to go back to the negotiations table, making a complaint to the Public Employment Relations Board or going to the fourth floor of the courthouse – a reference to the potential for a lawsuit.
No members of Lakeport Police's rank and file were present for the Tuesday meeting. Police Chief Kevin Burke sat in his usual place beside other department heads and his second-in-command, Lt. Brad Rasmussen, watched from the audience.
“We certainly weren't expecting it,” Odom said of the council's decision.
Odom said the association believed that the previous vote represented the council's decision.
As to what action the police officers association may take next, Odom said, “We will be meeting as soon as practical.”
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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