Mayor Domenic J. Sarno has suspended negotiations with the Springfield Police Supervisor’s Association after several days of contentious bargaining and passing the commanders’ contract to arbitration.
Sarno released a statement Saturday morning simply stating that, “In the name of and in respect to our taxpayers and our City’s continued fiscal stability, I have suspended negotiations with the Police Supervisor’s Union.”
The mayor prefaced his announcement with a series of postings on Twitter complaining about the what he called, “unsustainable financial demands,” when he announced Thursday that the contract would go to arbitration after negotiations failed.
However, on Friday, the mayor turned his argument to staff residency, arguing that a majority of police supervisors were not even Springfield residents but lived outside the boundaries of the city they worked in.
“Their tax dollars do not go to our Springfield. But our tax dollars go to paying out lawsuits for their sins of not properly supervising our rank and file police officers,” he tweeted.
Sarno again tweeted late Friday night that an overwhelming number of the department’s command staff were not Springfield residents.
“Captain (Brian) Keenan (head of the Police Supervisor’s Association), Attorney Hynes and Commissioner (John) Barbieri — what’s wrong with this picture? Of the 72 sergeants, lieutenants and captains, 73 % do not reside in our Springfield — stay tuned.”
The Springfield patrolman’s union came to terms with the city last week, agreeing to a package that included a 13 percent pay increase over four years. However, the new contract also includes a residency requirement for new hires.