new contract - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-28T12:36:42Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/new+contractSouth Palm Beach: Police finally get new contract, pay raisehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/south-palm-beach-police-finally-get-new-contract-pay-raise2017-05-31T16:55:22.000Z2017-05-31T16:55:22.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong><br /><br /> South Palm Beach Police Chief Carl Webb says morale among officers is better now than at any other time during his 28 years with the department.<br /> “It’s a pleasure now instead of a war,” Webb told the Town Council on May 16. “Historically, through past administrations, it’s been us against them and these officers paid the price for that. We’re beginning the healing process and returning some dignity to these officers.”<br /> The chief said that healing began in April when the town and union officials reached a deal on a new contract for the department’s seven uniformed officers. They had not received a raise since October 2014 and had worked without a new contract since 2015.<br /> At their low point last fall, negotiations deteriorated so far that representatives of the Police Benevolent Association spoke at a town meeting, publicly scolding council members — telling them to dissolve the department and hire the Palm Beach County sheriff, rather than continue to underpay the town’s officers.<br /> According to Florida Department of Law Enforcement statistics, South Palm Beach police have ranked near the bottom in wages among county departments, earning roughly 7 percent less across the board last year than neighboring agencies in Manalapan and Ocean Ridge.<br /> Webb credits Town Manager Bob Vitas with breaking the negotiation impasse: “He knew how to do it and he got it done.”<br /> Vitas worked a deal with the union to increase wages in exchange for ending grievance arbitration hearings and replacing them with appeals to a newly created review board. The town saves money on arbitrations, he says, which covers the cost of the raises.<br /> “There was some stuff in that old contract that really was harmful to relationships, and we’ve taken care of that,” Vitas said. “Now we have what I consider a fair agreement on both sides of the aisle.”<br /> The new agreement gives officers an incremental 13 percent raise over the five-year period from 2015 to 2020. The department’s starting salary of $43,500 today will climb to $49,445 by 2020. The top of the range for senior officers is $63,450 in the new contract.<br /> The council unanimously approved the deal, 3-0, with Councilwoman Stella Gaddy Jordan absent. “I’m glad we’re finally going in the right direction,” Mayor Bonnie Fischer said.<br /> In other business, the town’s beach stabilization project faces an important test on June 6 when Palm Beach County commissioners decide whether to accept the easements from property owners, which would allow preliminary work to begin.<br /> “It’s a big day for us,” Vice Mayor Robert Gottlieb said.<br /> The town has collected 15 of the 16 easement agreements needed, with the Concordia East condominium still refusing to sign on until county attorneys change the contract’s liability language. Vitas said he believes the county and Concordia ultimately will work out their differences.<br /> Managers of the $5 million project are still hoping to begin constructing concrete groins on the beach in the fall of 2018 and have the system in place by early 2019.`</p></div>South Palm Beach: Town attorney, manager to be focus of February meetinghttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/south-palm-beach-town-attorney-manager-to-be-focus-of-february-me2017-02-01T15:55:47.000Z2017-02-01T15:55:47.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong><br /><br /> South Palm Beach Vice Mayor Joe Flagello is promising residents “an action-packed, fun-filled agenda” for their Feb. 28 town meeting. <br /> After being sidetracked for months with other business, the Town Council is planning to tackle several potentially prickly assignments — the evaluations of the town attorney and town manager, and final approval to an ordinance that would raise council members’ monthly salaries.<br /> Last year, Town Attorney Brad Biggs asked the council for a new contract and a pay raise, from $170 an hour to $180. Some council members objected, saying they had problems communicating with Biggs and getting him to respond to their questions. Several members, including Stella Gaddy Jordan, considered putting the position out to bid.<br /> “Brad didn’t support the council enough,” Jordan said. She also complained about too much cross-talk during meetings that Biggs should have stopped.<br /> After the council had several false starts at negotiating with the attorney, the issue is back on the agenda for February. Biggs has held his position for a decade and is board certified as a municipal specialist. He wants the council to act on his request.<br /> “I haven’t raised your rates for years,” Biggs said at the Jan. 24 meeting. “And I didn’t raise them during any of the time we had poor income coming in. I’ve requested it, it’s in the budget, I’m requesting that something be set that either I’m going to get it or I’m not going to get it.”<br /> Flagello, who calls Biggs’ work on the town’s behalf “terrific,” says the attorney deserves an answer this month.<br /> “I don’t think it’s fair to him. He’s offered us many options. We’ve even talked about a flat rate,” Flagello said. “We’ve had these options and we’ve done nothing. I think it’s sort of disrespectful.”<br /> The town charter requires that the council evaluate the manager annually, so Bob Vitas will get his first formal review at the next meeting.<br /> Vitas inherited a mildly chaotic situation when he took the $103,000-a-year position in November 2015. Five months earlier, the Town Council forced his predecessor, Jim Pascale, to resign after only six months on the job.<br /> Vitas has received glowing reviews from all council members for his efforts to reboot the town’s administration and advance the council’s issues. Mayor Bonnie Fischer has praised Vitas for working tirelessly to collect easements for the town’s beach restoration project and helping officials develop long-term goals.<br /> “Bob has done a wonderful job and really helped us get back on track after going without a town manager,” Fischer has said.<br /> Council members were to have given their final approval in January to an ordinance that raises their monthly pay from $250 to $300 — and the mayor’s from $250 to $500 — but postponed the vote until public notice requirements had been met.<br /> A first reading of the change narrowly passed, 3-2, in December.</p></div>