SPRINGFIELD — A newly ratified contract between the city of Springfield and its just under 500 police officers was officially approved by the City Council during its April 28 hearings meeting.
According to the city, police officers have been without a contract for 10 months.
The agreement, which runs for the period between July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2028, includes wage increases of 3.5% in each of the four years.
“On behalf of the IBPO, I appreciate Mayor [Domenic] Sarno and his administration’s continued belief and support of our men and women in blue,” said Martin Curley, president of International Police Officers Local 364. “We are proud to continue to serve and provide for the public safety for our citizens and businesses of Springfield.”
Aside from wage increases, the new contract gives Field Training Officers $85 per week when they are training a trainee who just graduated from the police academy. If an FTO takes a vacation or sick day during a week of training, they will lose $20 of that $85, according to the contract.
William Mahoney, director of human resources and labor relations, said the city has also agreed to work on an app-based system for outside details and assignments, and the contract also includes an extra two days of bereavement on top of the three that already exist.
He told the council that negotiations between the two parties went smoothly.
“It was a good negotiation between the parties,” Mahoney said. “We didn’t have any third parties come in and assist us. We had a good exchange of ideas and conversations, and we were pleased to report that we got this done.”
Councilors spoke in favor of the new contract and the swift process of the negotiations. Ward 8 City Councilor Zaida Govan commended the union, police officers and Police Superintendent Lawrence Akers for executing an agreement quickly.
Still, she wondered if negotiations could start earlier so officers are not working under the conditions of whatever the previous contract was.
“I know I’ve been here a couple of times where we’ve had the officers working on the previous contract a lot longer than 10 months,” Govan said. “So, I’m wondering if there’s a way for us to maybe start negotiations early.”
At Large City Councilor Tracye Whitfield said officers should receive more than just five days of bereavement time but applauded the contract for its inclusion of the app-based system language because of its ostensible ability to curb any favoritism in the department.
“That will kind of like eliminate that problem, and it’ll be a fair process,” Whitfield said.
Ward 4 City Councilor Malo Brown also showed support for the new contract, but said the city needs to be even more aggressive in supporting police officers, especially as recruitment and retainment becomes more and more difficult to achieve.
“If we don’t put more money and support into our police now and even modernize it a little bit more, we’ll pay for that in the future,” Brown said. “So, I do commend both sides for working together to get to this, but I do just want to urge the fact that we can do better in supporting our police.”
Ward 7 City Councilor Tim Allen, who chairs the council’s Finance Subcommittee, said the new contract is a good “morale booster” for the Police Department.
“There have been angst and stress about these contracts in the past,” Allen said. “There was none today.”
In a statement, Akers said the ratified contract allows the officers to “stay focused on what matters most: serving and protecting our community.”
He added that the contract is a significant step forward for the department to advance and modernize so they can “deliver the highest level of service to the residents of our city.”
Mayor Domenic Sarno was equally jubilant about the ratified agreement.
“I deeply appreciate the continued efforts from our brave and dedicated men and women of our Springfield Police Department,” Sarno said. “My administration looks forward to continuing to move our Springfield Police Department forward with the many reforms and initiatives, many of which have already been implemented, that will provide the best public safety aspects and enhance the quality of life for our residents and business community.”
