Board of Aldermen
February 23, 2016 Page 16
Alderman Cookson
Attorney Bennett, there were some comments made earlier by some of my colleagues or at least one of them
that raised concern in my mind and | just want for clarification sake, to make sure that we as a Board of
Aldermen know what our responsibilities are with regard to the contract before us. The Board of Aldermen is
not a negotiating Board and we do not roll up our sleeves and we do not have the ability to negotiate with any
one of the unions that come before us with a collective bargaining agreement. Is that a correct statement?
Attorney Bennett
That’s correct.
Alderman Cookson
| understand the enthusiasm, | think when | began close to 12 years ago that’s exactly the kind of thing that |
wanted to do but we as a Board of Aldermen do not have that capacity. As Aldermen O’Brien said, it’s the fire
commissioners, the police commissioners and the public works; they are the ones that are responsible for
negotiating the contracts and corporation counsel represents the city within those negotiations. | think it’s also
important to distinguish, especially this evening, because there is a lot of deliberation that’s going on and that
is that Alderman Siegel and Alderman Moriarty have made points about the spending cap and staying within
the spending cap and clauses and such. We as a Board of Aldermen have the responsibility to do one of three
things with regard to this contract this evening, we can approve the contract and all of its cost items, we can
reject the contract and all of its cost items or we can approve the contract but reject some of the cost items.
Attorney Bennett, is that an accurate statement?
Attorney Bennett
It's accurate except for the last one; you can’t approve the contract and reject certain items. If you reject
certain items or the entire contract then it goes back and they can accept it without the rejected items or
renegotiate. It doesn’t go to arbitration.
Alderman Cookson
No, it would go back to the police commissioners and they would determine whether they agree with the cost
items that were rejected.
Attorney Bennett
As well as the membership of the union.
Alderman Cookson
Correct.
Alderman Siegel
I'd like to thank my colleague, Alderman O’Brien, for pointing out the nature of retirement. Retirement has a
connotation in many peoples’ minds that you reach a certain age and you can no longer work. Often time’s
retirement means | am now eligible to receive a pension and I’m going to take advantage of it because | can
receive greater compensation elsewhere. That is an important distinction. As far as the line items of the
contract, the tallest pole and the far more significant one is the one that has the “me too” clause. That is the
major cost items in this contract and so if that’s the thing... we don’t really have a lot of giveback flexibility. One
could argue whether or not we would win if we went to arbitration but | honestly believe and | believe the
commissioners believe that that is not something we have much ability to change right now. Since that is the
