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‘Wicked balancing act’: Newport residents urge selectboard to reach police contract agreement

By Patrick Adrian
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
NEWPORT — Town citizens are urging the Newport Selectboard to reach an amicable contract agreement with Newport police officers, with less than two weeks remaining to finalize a new collective bargaining contract.

Residents and business owners packed the Newport Selectboard meeting on Monday to speak in support of the Newport police labor union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local #3657.

Newport’s officers have been working without a new contract since Tuesday, May 11, 2021, due to a continuing impasse between the town and the union over the “step system,” a contractual system of built-in pay adjustments and incentives based on a police officer’s overall experience or longevity in the department.

The deadline to finalize a new contract for the next fiscal year is on Wednesday, March 8. Selectboard chair Jeffrey Kessler said the board would need to schedule a public hearing to approve the contract proposal no later than Tuesday, March 7.

Officer Paul Beaudet, president of the fraternal organization, the Newport Police Benevolent Association, said that these step incentives are critical to the recruiting and retaining of officers, which Beaudet said are currently in a dangerously short supply in Newport’s department.

“For over a year we have had all of our fingers and all of our toes plugging the holes in this dam,” Beaudet told the selectboard. “And still the water has been leaking out.”

Newport’s department has lost six experienced officers and three rookie officers to other departments or to retirement in the last two years , Beaudet said, and one officer remains on long term medical leave with no certainty regarding a return.

Meanwhile, the department continues to weather severe staffing shortages.

To ensure adequate patrol coverage, the department has had to curtail services such as a school resource officer to the Newport School District and to have off-duty officers be on-call.

While the department recently hired two recruits, those recruits must still complete the police academy and then their field training before being certified to work patrol shifts alone, which will take multiple more months.

Beaudet also warned that four current officers are currently considering positions in other precincts, which would leave the department short-handed even when the new recruits are certified.

“To be very clear, this is not a short-term problem,” Beaudet told the selectboard.

Several residents said the impact of the officer shortage is hitting the community hard.

Resident Bill Wilmot read a letter from local Juvenile Probation Officer Timothy Lenihan, who noted a significant increase in fights, drug-related issues, and truancies at Newport Middle High School since the removal of the school resource officer and a rise in juvenile court cases as well.

Prior to the contract expiration, Newport officers could receive an incremental salary increase every 18 months of service in the department. This mechanism, according to Lee, was meant to promote recruitment and the retention of highly qualified and experienced officers.

Two Newport business owners said they have experienced longer than expected wait times for officers to respond to their calls.

“Every time I call, the answer from dispatch is that they’ll see what [they] can do [because] they are low on staff,” said business owner Chris McIntyre. “If this crowd isn’t enough motivation [to reach a contract agreement], then what would be the motivation?”

The selectboard and Town Manager Hunter Rieseberg, while unable to publicly discuss details of the contract negotiation, indicated that the amount of money being disputed is significantly larger than what many in the public might imagine. For example, the town is already proposing pay increases of 3.5 percent to all town employees next fiscal year, which will be the town’s contractual offer to the police union as well.

The selectboard said they want to reach a satisfactory agreement with the police officers, though the cost needs to be reasonable.

“Our responsibility is to handle the prudential affairs of the town,” said Vice-Chair John Hooper. “We have to watch the pocketbook. And any agreement we enter into we have to justify.”

Hooper equated the board’s task to “a wicked balancing act,” explaining that the board must also consider what the voters are willing to absorb in terms of a tax increase from new contracts.

“If we all come to an agreement but it fails at the polls, then we are worse off than before,” Hooper said.

Rieseberg also said that any increase in police officer wages is unlikely to produce “a swarm of applicants.”

“We, like every other municipality in the county, are experiencing a shortage of people in law enforcement,” Rieseberg said. “Look at Lebanon, Hanover, or Claremont. They are all down employees. Paying them more money is not necessarily going to change the course.”

Beaudet said the step system is more about guaranteeing officers a certain stability or what they can expect in compensation by staying in the department long-term.

Retaining experienced officers is ideal, as they are more knowledgeable to handle a diversity of situations and are less prone to make major mistakes, Beaudet explained.

Selectboard Chair Jeffrey Kessler said renewal of contract negotiations started late this fiscal year because the Newport police union replaced their negotiating legal team. As a result, new negotiations did not begin until November.

Rieseberg said that a mediator will be presiding over two negotiation sessions scheduled for next week.

Rieseberg and the selectboard dismissed the public’s demand for a selectboard representative to participate in the negotiation sessions.

Contrary to public perception, Rieseberg receives his directives regarding contract parameters from the selectboard. Rieseberg provides the board with updates following each contract discussion, including written updates and in-person briefings, including each term of agreement or disagreement.

Rieseberg added that a member of the selectboard will be on-call during the mediated sessions in case Rieseberg needs to consult during the negotiation.

The town has not had a selectman participate in a collective bargaining negotiation since the late 1990s, according to Finance Director Paul Brown.

Having selectboard members involved in the negotiation process could become problematic later when the board has to decide whether to approve the contract, especially if the board member had a negative experience during the negotiations, according to Rieseberg.

reporter @eagletimes.com

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