Notice to appeal halts talks between City of DHS and Police Association
An apparent failure in communication has stalled negotiations between the City of Desert Hot Springs and the Police Officers’ Association.
A notice to appeal the decision to cut officer pay went unnoticed for months, causing the City of Desert Hot Springs to walk away from negotiations.
Last year the city cut police pay to avoid bankruptcy.
Since then, the Police Officers’ Association had been negotiating to get a better deal for the officers.
Those negotiations stopped because of the discovery of a notice to appeal the Superior Court decision. Both sides can’t seem to agree on a way to move forward.
“Basically the Police Officers’ Association has filed an appeal, and the cost of defending that, with our budget as tight as it is, is going to really dig into city finances at this point,” said Russell Betts, Mayor Pro Tem of Desert Hot Springs.
The city still doesn’t have an answer why this notice to appeal went unnoticed for almost four months.
“It’s not something that is being taken lightly, it’s being taken up in closed session,” said Betts. “The critical point at this juncture is should the police officers association win on appeal, we have millions of dollars of back wages and salary cuts that are going to have to be restored,” said Betts.
The Police Officers’ Association says this notice isn’t an actual appeal, it’s just a first step they need to take in case talks brake down and they wanted to make an appeal in the future.
“When you are going to file an appeal from an action to the Superior Court you have to let the Appellate Court know that you are reserving the right to do that, it’s like a time limitation and that’s all we did that’s all that’s been done so far,” said Wendell Phillips, General Council for the Police Officers’ Association.
“Everyone knows the elephant in the middle of the room is the city of Desert Hot Springs has no money they have to find a funding mechanism or they are going to go out of business,” said Phillips.
The City of Desert Hot Springs says it can’t afford a long legal battle.
“Now it looks like we are going to have to cut something else if these legal bills are going to start rolling in on a case that was settled and done,” said Betts.
Some people living in Desert Hot Springs think police officers should be paid more.
“If you are going to deal with our police officers who serve and protect us, make this the last thing on your agenda that you touch, definitely raise their money, because they need their money, we need our police officers, we need our community to work together,” said Margaret Webb who was walking out of the Desert Hot Springs Police Department this afternoon.
The Police Officers’ Association says it’s more than willing to get back to the table.
“When people are talking it’s easy to work out problems, when they are not talking problems don’t get solved,” said Phillips.
Members of the police officers Association will be at the next City Council meeting on March 17.
