Three officer jobs saved

GLENDALE — Three Glendale police officers who were scheduled to be laid off Wednesday will keep their jobs after three other members of the department either retired or transferred, the police chief said.

The Police Department’s records administrator retired in September, and a divisional secretary transferred to another department in the city, Glendale Police Chief Ron De Pompa said.

An officer also retired after settling a long-term disability case, he said.

The confluence of personnel changes were unexpected and happened at the last minute, De Pompa said.

“We were very worried about it,” he said.

The three vacant positions created enough room in the budget to keep the officers on the payroll, De Pompa said, adding that they will keep their positions, ranks and assignments.

The potential for losing three sworn officers was a major sore point this summer at City Hall after Glendale Police Officers Assn. members declined to reopen their contracts, which included 6% pay raises for this year.

City Council members at the time had pushed for 3% raises as a way to stave off the possibility of layoffs. When the union eventually declined to reopen contracts, Councilman Dave Weaver was among the most vocal critics.

The possibility of layoffs could have been avoided, he said, if the Glendale Police Officers Assn. opted to take a 3% salary increase instead of 6%.

“But they chose not to — they wanted 6%, so they got it,” Weaver said. “I am gathering that they figured the council would never ever lay off a police officer. Well that was a bad decision on their part.”

The police association’s president, Larry Ballesteros, said the department has been making cuts for a long time, putting dents in critical programs, such as the school resource officers unit.

All the while, the association has gone along with cuts, he said, because they had to be done.

“The GPOA is not accustomed to negotiating in the media,” Ballesteros said. “We have always practiced fair and binding contract negotiations . . . we are always willing to listen. Mr. Weaver’s comments, as harsh as they may be, are very surprising to me.”

When contract negotiations were up, he said the union had agreed to enter into talks with the city and to keep the media out of it.

But Ballesteros said that doesn’t mean the association didn’t offer anything up during talks.