Monthly Archives: March 2012
2012/13 Budget: $4.3M cut; Employees told of lay-offs
The city is expected to release its budget on the city’s website on Friday, March 30. The following letter signed by Mark Vanderpool was distributed among employees today:
March 29, 2012
Dear Employees:
Later today, the City of Sterling Heights will issue its Proposed 2012/2013 City Budget. The proposed budget totals $133.3 million, a decrease of $4.3 million as spending will fall to its lowest level in nine years.
Due to lower property tax revenue, lower state shared revenue and the potential loss of industrial personal property tax, the city continues to implement its long-term financial plan. The primary components include reduced expenditures, revenue replacement including economic development initiatives (to grow the revenue pie) and partial use of reserves. As many of you know, the city has reduced expenditures through position reductions, expanded use of technology, innovative partnerships, employee concessions, use of part-time employees, and the use of volunteers.
While these expenditure reduction efforts are significant, they are not enough to address the projected $11 million in revenue loss over the next few years due, in large part, to a seventh year of property tax revenue decline and partial loss of the personal property tax. As such, in order to remain financial viable, further position reductions are required.
The proposed budget that will be sent to the City Council for consideration includes the elimination of 32 vacant positions, which will save the city $2.7 million. Also, for the first time in decades, the proposed budget includes layoffs affecting 27 full-time and 9 part-time positions to reduce expenditures by another $2 million. The reductions will be implemented upon approval of the budget and will be effective July 1. Over the next year, further collaboration is required with stakeholders including City Council, residents, businesses, employees and union leaders to determine the level of service desired, along with required funding, compared to continual reduced city service levels under the current declining revenue environment.
Today I am, along with department directors and union leadership, meeting with employees that are affected by this announcement. During our conversations with these individuals, I am expressing our deep regret knowing the impact on our employees’ lives. I will also outline eligibility for support services that will be provided including; a severance package, unemployment benefits and, in some cases, an Early Retirement Incentive Program for those not currently eligible to retire. In addition, the city will be providing outplacement services for full-time employees to assist with resume writing, honing interview skills and connecting with employers currently hiring.
It troubles me greatly to convey this message today, but maintaining a financially secure organization is our chief responsibility to the residents and taxpayers of Sterling Heights. I urge all of you to become more familiar with our financial plan and Proposed 2012/13 City Budget. I also invite you to review the Proposed Budget and all of the supplemental information online beginning tomorrow at http://www.sterling-heights.net
One of the great sources of pride we share as a team is care, support and compassion for one another. Even if you weren’t directly impacted by today’s news, please continue to show your co-workers the kindness, empathy and understanding that you would appreciate if placed in this unfortunate position.
– Mark
It’s unfortunate that people are being notified they will lose their jobs this summer, but it is heartening to know that the transition will be eased with outplacement services and several months of continued employment. Presumably some of the jobs might be retained depending upon the direction Council takes.
Any cuts made are bound to be painful. However, it remains to be seen whether the budget goes far enough towards restoring the city to a sustainable financial circumstance.
One thing Mr. Vanderpool says in his letter seems to foreshadow the possibility of a proposed tax increase:
Over the next year, further collaboration is required with stakeholders including City Council, residents, businesses, employees and union leaders to determine the level of service desired, along with required funding, compared to continual reduced city service levels under the current declining revenue environment.
The bolded text above indicates to me, at least, that there is momentum building for another tax increase in Sterling Heights. I am not convinced that this is something residents can afford under any circumstances.
Time Card Scandal: What the Official Version of the Story Is Missing
As the result of a number of private conversations I have had and correspondence that has been sent to me anonymously, I have been able to discern a subtle but important difference between the official version that has been publicly stated and what people who work within the department saw with regard to the time card scandal.
I have waited a considerable period of time since learning of what really happened in order to confirm the story, and to wait for the official version to become complete. With Chief Reese’s testimony before Council last night, the official version is now complete, and I have been told by several different people that my understanding of what happened more closely matches what happened.
Two different types of time card ‘falsification’ took place. In this post, I will attempt to explain the two types, and why I feel one does not equate to the other legally or ethically.
Slide Time
The first type was known by some inside the department as “slide time”: shift leaders would let their subordinates leave a few minutes early on occasion as a small reward for good performance. This practice was fairly widespread and involved a very small amount of time overall, sometimes half an hour and usually less.
So-called “slide time” was not a conspiracy to defraud the city. It was a small perk, which promoted good morale within the department. I have personally held jobs where the boss would occasionally “cut us loose” half an hour early on a sunny Friday afternoon, as have many people. I would still get paid for the full working day. As a matter of fact, my current employer has an official policy and tradition of granting “slide time” on Christmas Eve: everyone works a half day but gets paid for a full day.
Walk-Away Time
A second form of falsification, which I will call “walk-away” time, involved a more concerted, malicious, and deliberate effort to defraud the city. Senior ranking officers following this practice would leave their squad cars parked outside the Police HQ building with the in-vehicle computer logged in, and walk away. They would not tell dispatch that they were actually going off-duty. They would sometimes leave several hours before their shift was scheduled to end. Another senior officer would wait until the shift was at its scheduled end, then walk outside and log the in-vehicle computer off.
“Walk-Away Time” was a true conspiracy. It was designed to exact revenge upon the city for the reduction of the Command Officers’ work week. It was practiced by a very small number of the command officers, perhaps only five or six, and condoned by the Captain in charge of the Operations Division.
“Walk-Away Time” offended the sensibilities of many people on the force, which has a large majority of very honest, scrupulous, upstanding police officers. Sooner or later, someone who was aware of the practice wrote an anonymous letter blowing the whistle to the Chief, thus bringing the fraud to light.
Why Are So Many Command Officers Being Punished?
Learning about this led me to ask a question: why were the other command officers going along with the punishment even though they had not directly participated in the most grievous part of the fraud? Why did they not publicly expose the real truth and the difference between those who were walking away hours before shift end and those who were merely letting subordinates go a few minutes early, or being let go a little early themselves?
The answer to that question is somewhat complex. The following is my analysis of what the motivations were.
First, this was damage control by the city. An untold number of officers, both command and non-command, were given “slide-time”. Limiting those affected by the punishment to command officers in one division thus saved the city the need to discipline or attempt to prosecute the entire department.
The command officers involved were all told that there was no difference in their guilt whether they had experienced or given “slide time” or had “walked away” as part of a conspiracy. In the words of the Chief, “the degree of participation does not lessen the violation.”
Another reason for punishing all of the command officers in the Operations Division instead of just the select few was to avoid a huge legal problem. It was felt that singling out five or six officers for severe punishment or termination would certainly have resulted in grievances being filed, arbitration, and lawsuits. The singled-out officers, it was feared, could have made the case that everyone in the department was somehow culpable of the same thing, just to a different degree. The end result would have been a feared legal nightmare for the city.
Police Officers, just like every other citizen, have a right to due process under the law. The Chief stated in his presentation to council that the Garrity decision precluded the department from using the officers’ own statements against them as part of a criminal prosecution. This, of course, is a situation which the city created itself, knowing full well that taking self-incriminatory statements would negate the usefulness of the evidence. As the Chief said, the surveillance cameras and time card system did not make it easy to establish the guilt of individuals without their testimony. So without critical evidence arising from the testimony of the officers themselves, it was believed that there was no avenue left for criminal prosecution.
The command officers that were interviewed by the Special Investigations Bureau were asked one simple question: have you ever left work prior to the time indicated on your signed time card? If their answer was yes, or they admitted to knowing about someone who had done so, they were considered guilty. That was enough to establish the reason for taking action on a “personnel mater”, and also invoked the officer’s right against self-incrimination, thus, it is thought, precluding criminal charges from being brought.
My opinion
I am told that many in the department are angry with the small number of officers who conspired to deliberately defraud the city, and would like to see them fired and prosecuted. The city’s reaction to the scandal has stirred up animosity within the department during a period of time that labor negotiations are not settled.
All 21 of the Command Officers are going to be publicly revealed via the FOIA process underway by various media outlets operating within the city. As the Chief mentioned, this will tarnish reputations and cause these officers public humiliation. Now that you know the complete story, you can see how for many of these men and women, this humiliation is completely undeserved.
One of the key tenets of criminal justice is that the accused not only has to be proven guilty of the crime, but he must have formed what is known as criminal intent. He had to know what he was doing was wrong, and decide to do so anyway. The balance of the command officers, in my opinion, did not form criminal intent before deciding on their actions.
Thus, the majority of those whose names will be revealed aren’t guilty of a conspiracy. They’re being thrown under the bus to save a few from being criminally prosecuted and to save the city from a lengthy legal process.
Not everyone whose name you will see in the media in upcoming weeks really did something that many people consider wrong. These men and women along with their families will have their reputations tarnished and be subjected to humiliation because the city lacked the fortitude necessary to punish the few who were behaving like criminals. Allowing this to happen is immoral.
Anyone who has taken the Citizen’s Police Academy course occasionally given by the city has met many fine, upstanding, honest officers and knows the general character of the people in the department. Up until now, the city has enjoyed an excellent reputation that has by and large been earned by the efforts of hard-working men and women who put their lives on the line for us with every traffic stop and every 911 call.
Destroying this fine city’s reputation will have a direct effect on the residents of the city. Destroying the reputations of the innocent men and women in blue will subject their families, friends, and most importantly, their children, to undeserved humiliation, shame, and stress.
Once again, the city has taken the pragmatic approach instead of doing what is right. Once again, I am forced to ask: how can the administration sleep at night?
Transcript of Police Chief Michael Reese’s Statement before Council 20-MAR-2012
The following is a transcript of Police Chief Michael Reese’s statement before Council on Tuesday, March 20, 2012, regarding time card fraud by the Command Officers recently reported in the media and commented upon here. The statement is lengthy, so I am placing it in its own post. I will be following up on this in the next few days with more information and opinion regarding this matter. Corrections to the transcript are welcomed, but I believe I have the chief’s words 99.9% accurate at this time.
“Good evening Mr. Mayor, Members of Council and Mr. Vanderpool. Thank you for providing me this opportunity to come before you tonight to provide you with a summary of the unfortunate incident that has taken place within the Police Department. Before I start, I’d like to apologize to the Mayor, City Council and specifically the residents of Sterling Heights for the action of certain Command Officers assigned to the Police Operations Division which casts a negative image to the city and its police department. As Chief of Police, and a resident of this city, I’m embarrassed by the actions of these officers and can assure you this behavior will not be (tolerated) now or in the future.
In regards to the issue of time card misappropriations, tonight I would like to provide you with a summary as to how it was brought to my attention, the investigation, its conclusion, and the discipline that was implemented to the command officers involved.
On the evening of January 31st, 2012 I was advised by the President of the Police Officers Association that he had in his possession an anonymous letter, believed to be from a patrolman, claiming that a command officer assigned to police operations, specifically the day shift, was taking leave time in addition to his two and a half hour reduced work week. The additional time was not documented on his bi-weekly time card.
On February 1st, 2012, I forwarded a correspondence to the police department’s Special Investigations Bureau requesting that an investigation be conducted into the alleged allegations. The investigation involved 24 interviews, 23 of which were command officers, and one administrative secretary. All were assigned to the police operations division.
As the result of a thorough investigation, it was learned that most, if not all 21 command officers, in total, were conducting a practice of adding undocumented time off to their furlough time. The practice began sometime after (the) city implemented the reduced work week. (The) time ranged from a half hour to as much as two and a half hours. The practice was conducted periodically only when manpower allocations for command allowed, and there was no overtime paid as a result of this practice.
The level of responsibility for allowing this practice to begin and continue for approximately three months, increases with the rank of the officers involved. If the command officer participated, or had knowledge that this was occurring without participating, then that individual is also in violation. Likewise, the degree of participation does not lessen the violation.
Once the investigation was complete, I met several times with the city attorney, and the city’s labor attorney, to discuss discipline and how it would be implemented. During these discussions, the officers’ rights to due process under the collective bargaining agreement, the grievance process, and arbitration were also discussed. Basically, what could be implemented and survive the grievance and arbitration process. The conclusion was that the captain involved would be terminated or demoted. The lieutenants involved would receive a thirty day suspension, ten days would be held in reserve as a two-year probationary period. If the lieutenants involved are involved in any additional disciplinary action, over the next two years, the ten days held would be implemented immediately along with the additional discipline. The sergeants involved would receive a ten day suspension, with five days held in reserve for two years, again serving as a probationary period. The two sergeants not participating in the practice but having a knowledge of it would receive five day suspensions, with three days held in reserve.
It was determined that removing the suspensions from their banks, excluding their sick time, that this would have the least amount of disruption within the police department. Also, if the officers were forced to stay home without pay, those positions would have to be filled for staffing purposes. This would cause a considerable amount of overtime to be paid. In regards to the issue of suspensions, the suspension time to be held in reserve to serve as a probationary period: this practice was implemented back in 2000, and has been used numerous times for disciplinary purposes over the years, and has proved to be a creative deterrent.
The question has come up as to why the Police Department did not seek criminal charges against these individuals. It should be noted that the only evidence which implicated these officers were their own statements. Prior to the statements being taken, the officers were advised of their rights under Garrity. Garrity, similar to Miranda, is a Supreme Court decision protecting Police Officers against self-incrimination in a criminal matter stemming from an internal investigation. Hence, the statements cannot be used. A review of the building’s exterior camera system did not reveal officers leaving early. Also, the officer’s keyfob only indicates when the officer enters the building, and not exits. Also, a check of the officer’s in-car computer in an attempt to see what time the officer was signing off was also inconclusive. Since this was now determined not to be a criminal matter, but a personnel issue within the city, an outside agency was not notified.
I want to assure you, and the residents of this city, that procedures are now being implemented to prevent this from ever happening again. The building’s exterior camera system will be updated with picture time-date stamps, the cameras will be repositioned allowing full coverage on all the building’s entrance and exits. A new computerized payroll system for the police department could be forthcoming.
In conclusion, once the apologies are over, the first issue we need to address as a police department is (to) restore public confidence. I know many feel that a monetary loss is not enough. Shortly, the command officers involved’s names will be appearing in the local print media and online. These families will be put through public humiliation. Not to mention these officers having to explain to their parents and children how and why they deceived the city that they worked for. Officers who have had distinguished careers in the Sterling Heights Police Department, their reputations are now tarnished for years to come.
The approach that needs to be taken from the command officers to myself, is to take a deep breath and focus on important outcomes, like restoring confidence, learning the lessons this incident has taught, and putting the past behind us and moving forward.
As I stated earlier, I apologize to the residents of the city for the behavior of a few. And let’s not have one incident cast a negative image on a fine police department. Thank you for allowing me to come before you tonight and have a good evening.”
2012 Memo of Understanding: UAW Unit 40 Local 412
Today I posted a copy of the Memorandum of Understanding between UAW Unit 40 Local 412 and the city which guarantees no work week reductions for that bargaining unit through June 30, 2013.
Needless to say, the reduction of the work week that is supposed to take place this summer is being used as leverage to encourage concessions from the various bargaining units operating in the city. Mark Vanderpool and most of council is calling the announced reductions a “default position” or a “fallback position”, and I am calling them a “negotiating tactic” — a term which I stand behind despite the (sometimes angry) denial of everyone on council and Mr. Vanderpool himself.
Whatever you call it, the pattern the city seeks is to exchange eliminating the shortened work week for concessions. If you read the various MOUs that this bargaining unit in particular has agreed to over the past several years, you will clearly see that this year’s concessions are more extensive than in years previous. From the standpoint of the residents and the city, this is necessary and welcome, and I for one appreciate the willingness on the part of the bargaining unit to help keep the city from going under.
I want to remain on record that I deplore the approach that was taken by the city to get these concessions. I personally do not believe in threatening people in the way the city has done. But in the end, I suppose, my objections plus $2.50 will get you a bus ride (and in Metro Detroit, a bus ride with a very limited set of destinations at that.)
The Police Time Card Scandal
It is disappointing to learn 21 out of 35 of the Sterling Heights’ Command Officers are now facing suspensions for time card fraud. This revelation casts a black cloud over the entire department and calls the culture of the Sterling Heights Police into question.
Committing time card fraud while those involved are pursuing legal action against the city for cutting back working hours reveals an attitude of entitlement more typically found among criminals than cops. That this was not one or two individuals but instead the majority of the command officers shows there are severe cultural problems on the force that will not be easily corrected, not the least of which is peer pressure. Corrected they must be, however: the problems must be rooted out to maintain the public trust. Simply suspending those involved and hoping to sweep the fall-out from this under the carpet is unrealistic and short sighted.
As Metro Detroit has seen time and time again, there is no worse leadership than setting a bad example. The most senior officers on the force have a special duty to guard the public trust and must hold themselves to the highest standard. They are the ones to which all of the officers on regular traffic and patrol duties look for leadership. In a very real sense, their previous leadership has been responsible for the high regard in which the department is held across the state. Unfortunately, it is going to be difficult for this organization to hold its head high among its peers in light of this revelation.
Some voices among the public have already declared that the discipline to be meted out will amount to a slap on the wrist, and that criminal charges should be brought against those involved. There are rumors to the effect that the most senior officer retired suddenly rather than face disciplinary action, which would mean that he or she would be entitled to their full pension.
Although I am unsure that this rises to the level of criminality that would be prosecutable under the law, there certainly needs to be a very public reckoning with those involved. Sterling Heights’ reputation for being one of the safest cities of its size in the nation is now in jeopardy because of this incident. The City Administration needs to move decisively and quickly in order to put things to right. If the City Administration fails to take tough, corrective measures that are visible to the public, it may become difficult to maintain the respect the police need in order to ensure the rule of law.
Geoff Gariepy's Sterling Heights PolitiBlog 