City, FOP remain at odds as protests continue

Quinn Ritzdorf, St. Joseph News-Press, Mo.
·2 min read

Aug. 18—Horns continue to honk outside City Hall as the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge #3, and supporters protest for increased wages.

On Wednesday night, after a long closed council meeting, City Manager Bryan Carter, Mayor John Josendale and City Councilman Randy Schultz met with FOP President Brad Kerns and Vice President Brendan McGinnis for two hours.

Both parties said the conversation was productive, but there was no official offer from the city. FOP members remain adamant that they want what the city's pay study says they deserve, which is $48,348 for a starting salary and a maximum of $72,522 for patrol officers, detectives and sergeants.

"There definitely was some good discussion, so hopefully, after the community continues to support us, we'll get a reasonable and fair offer within their pay study and we can go back to doing what we want to do, which is serving the community at 100%," McGinnis said.

However, the city and the police union remain at an impasse.

"The disconnect seems to be that the officers who have been here for an extended period of time are not being compensated for the previous years they were here or the time that they remain on being here," McGinnis said.

Another point of contention is the St. Joseph Police Department's current 17-year pay plan is much shorter than the city's offer of an average increase of $811 over a 29-year pay plan, according to McGinnis. The FOP said that's a step in the wrong direction.

"The issue with that was the timeline," McGinnis said. "Currently we're on a 17-year pay plan, and no one in their reasonable mind would accept 29 when you're at 17. We'd actually be going backwards."

The city declined to comment about ongoing negotiations. A special council meeting is scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday.

Until the two parties can agree, McGinnis said the FOP is willing to use vacation time and off-duty hours to protest in front of City Hall. However, their contract doesn't let them strike if the situation escalates.

"We still have officers out there and they're working just as hard," McGinnis said. "If nothing else, the community support has reinvigorated that we are supported by this community, so we're going to continue to go at 100% no matter what our staffing level is. But we could just be doing so much more as a community if we can get to that staffing level."

Quinn Ritzdorf can be reached at quinn.ritzdorf@newspressnow.com