By MIKE FAHER
Nearly two months into 2010, Johns-town officials appear to be making no progress toward finding resources to replenish the city police department’s depleted staff.
The department’s union filed a grievance over the Jan. 1 layoff of four officers, but a union representative on Wednesday said an arbitration hearing is months away.
And the cash-strapped city apparently has no funds available to reinstate the furloughed cops. But officials say the layoffs have taken a heavy toll.
“The police officers are stressed, and they’re overworked,” city Councilwoman Marie Mock said.
When council laid off 14 city employees to help balance this year’s budget, members said they would try to recall police – along with six public works staffers who lost their jobs – as soon as it was fiscally possible.
But there have been no windfalls, nor any hint of significant budgetary savings, for the financially distressed city at this point.
Mock said officers who are trying to pick up the slack have racked up plenty of overtime, citing a $10,000 estimate at Wednesday’s City Council meeting.
“At the end of the year, we’re going to pay for this,” Mock said.
But others argue that council cannot even consider reinstating employees until some sort of funding source emerges.
“I do want them back, but we have to have the money,” Councilman Pete Vizza said.
Vizza added that city cops are “doing a great job in an impossible situation.”
And that situation is likely to continue.
City Councilman Jack Williams said he is not optimistic that the city’s finances will improve anytime soon.
“Unfortunately, I just don’t see it happening,” Williams said.
Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 86, which represents the city department, filed a grievance last month. The union argues that, by contract, city administrators cannot lay off police officers.
The city’s labor attorney contends that no such prohibition can even be inferred from the police contract language, and the dispute will go to binding arbitration.
But Andy Litvin, a retired city officer who is president of FOP Lodge 86, said Wednesday that the arbitration hearing will not happen until late May.
“Unfortunately, we’ve got to go by when (arbitrators) are available,” Litvin said. “I would have liked to have it sooner.”
He reiterated that if the union wins the dispute, the four officers would be reinstated with back pay.
But Litvin also acknowledged that it appears highly unlikely that, independent of an arbitration award, the city will be recalling any furloughed officers.
“It’s the same as it was at the beginning of the year: ‘We don’t have the money right now,’ ” Litvin said of his conversations with city leaders.
In other business from Wednesday’s meeting, council gave unanimous, preliminary approval to a new ordinance that would require all newly hired Johnstown employees to reside within city limits.
The rule would apply only to those hired after the ordinance’s passage and “would not affect any current city employees,” Williams said.
Currently, only the city manager is required to live in the city, Williams said. The ordinance will require another vote before it becomes official, but there was no argument against it Wednesday.
“People should invest in the city,” Councilwoman Ann Wilson said. “If you want to work for the city, you should live in the city.”
