Council sends police union contract back to bargaining table

Poplar Bluff city officials will go back to the bargaining table with a police officers union.

City council members did not take action Monday on a proposed contract, saying it does not incorporate updates to city ordinances regarding benefits for new employees.

The proposed contract first came before council Dec. 2 and was tabled. It would be the first agreement between the city and the newly formed police officers union. The group formed in 2019, represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 702.

“The real purpose for you and others on the council is to move this forward in terms of a potential collective bargaining agreement, but not to have any motions or votes misunderstood by the public,” city attorney Mark Richardson said Monday night. “It’s my understanding that the council wants to move forward with good faith bargaining, and that there are problems with this particular contract, some very narrow problems that need to be fixed.

“So, the intent of the council is to reject this proposed ordinance, so that it can go back to the bargaining table.”

Council members voted in the fall of 2019 to change benefits for future employees, no longer contributing to the health insurance premiums of retirees or future employees' insurance for family, spouse or child.

Mayor pro tem Steve Davis asked in January for the item to be brought back for a vote.

Negotiations started March 13, 2019, for the police officers’ organization.

“We understand the conflict they’ve got with the ordinance they passed last year,” union representative Mark Baker said Monday night. “We’re going to work with the city to resolve those conflicts.”