Columnist Jeff German: Stalled negotiations don’t help anybody

Thursday, Nov. 10, 2005 | 7:57 a.m.

Jeff German's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday in the Sun. Reach him at german@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4067.

The process just isn't working.

That may be the only thing everyone on the Metro Fiscal Affairs Committee agreed upon Wednesday when they tried behind closed doors to figure out how to resolve a bitter contract dispute with the cops.

The five-member panel, mostly of city and county officials, met for two hours but couldn't decide on a path to take.

It voted to put off a decision until Nov. 28 on whether to proceed to fact-finding or directly to binding arbitration.

"There's no consensus yet as to which direction to go," a solemn Sheriff Bill Young told reporters as he emerged from the session.

"We're going to get our team of people together from Metro, the city and the county to sit together and talk about the realities of where we're at and make recommendations to the (committee)."

This inability to act swiftly is further evidence that the Fiscal Affairs Committee is ill-equipped to oversee what has become a contentious collective bargaining process -- something that has never occurred in the 32-year history of the consolidated Metro Police Department.

It's obvious to people on both sides that the Legislature needs to give the sheriff autonomy over his budget so he can negotiate directly with his officers without having to involve Fiscal Affairs.

What has slowed Fiscal Affairs down is a split between its city and county members.

Last month the panel rejected a collective bargaining agreement reached between the cops and the police department by a 3-2 vote, primarily along city-county lines.

The county persuaded the committee's only citizen representative, Peter Thomas, to vote against the contract, which would have given officers a sizeable 25.6 percent wage and benefits increase over four years.

This split was obvious again on Wednesday.

It was pretty clear at the meeting, I'm told, that the city, along with the cops and the sheriff, prefer going to arbitration right away to resolve the dispute.

The county, however, wants to start with fact-finding.

And so Fiscal Affairs did what any indecisive public body would do. It bought itself three more weeks before setting a course of action.

But the delay is likely to allow the acrimony between the cops and the county to continue to fester, which isn't good for a community that deserves to have happy cops protecting it.

With emotions running high, those inside Wednesday's meeting pledged not to try to publicly spin what was discussed behind closed doors.

But Dave Kallas, executive director of the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, the union that represents some 2,400 officers, wasn't bound by that agreement. The union didn't have an official role at the meeting.

Kallas once more accused the county of holding things up.

"They're being obstructionists for not allowing this process to reach a conclusion," he said. "It's the county's way or no way. It's ridiculous."

County Manager Thom Reilly, out of deference to the will of Fiscal Affairs, opted not to respond to Kallas.

So did Commission Chairman Rory Reid, who participated in the meeting.

Reid, however, has previously expressed frustration with the way the process has deteriorated under the purview of Fiscal Affairs.

And now even Kallas, who calls the process "dysfunctional," believes it's time for serious change.

"Based on what's occurred, there seems to be a need to make this process simpler," he said. "Give the sheriff the ability to operate his department as he sees fit as an elected official."

Everyone knows what needs to be done in the future to guarantee the cops a decent pay raise.

Figuring out what needs to be done today is the darn problem.