North Las Vegas, police supervisors near a final resolution

By Aida Ahmed

Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011 | 4:25 p.m.

A deal between the North Las Vegas Police Supervisors Association and North Las Vegas is almost final, according to union President Leonard Cardinale.

“We have a verbal tentative agreement, and today I’m looking over the final drafts of a written tentative agreement,” Cardinale said.

The two parties will disclose the terms of the written agreement once it is signed by Cardinale and North Las Vegas City Manager Maryann Ustick.

District Judge Susan Scann ordered the two parties to participate in a mandatory settlement conference in early August to agree on concessions that would prevent further city layoffs.

Mayor Shari Buck hoped negotiations with the 57-member police supervisors union would help alleviate the city’s budget crisis but an agreement was not made soon enough. At the Aug. 17 City Council meeting the council voted 3-2 to lay off 21 city employees to balance the $4.4 million budget, closing recreation centers.

The city maintains that it would cost $1.5 million to keep the recreation centers and pools open, but could not promise residents that a deal with unions would produce that amount.

Ustick told the council that although the cuts were some of the hardest decisions she has had to make in her career, they were necessary to fill the budget shortfall and avoid a state takeover.

City officials say they are still working with the 350-member Police Officers Association on a concession agreement.