City, police at odds in salary dispute
WESTMORLAND — Discussions between Westmorland Police Officers and city officials over their salaries has escalated this week, with the officers setting Monday as the deadline to come to an agreement.
A source with knowledge of the dispute who asked not to be named, but has verified its identity with the Imperial Valley Press, said the officers want to resolve the dispute with the city no later than Monday at noon.
In addition to the salary issue, officers are also concerned after they’ve heard the city may be seeking to contract the Imperial County Sheriff’s Office to police the city rather than consider a salary raise, the source said.
Despite citing that the situation could get “ugly” on Monday, the source said it didn’t have knowledge of what actions the officers might take if their request is not met by the set deadline.
According to the information provided by the source, the Westmorland police officers communicated their desire to earn a fair wage to some officials in recent weeks stating that wages have not been raised in more than a decade.
The source said such petition, which allegedly did not go well with some city officials began to engage in communication with the Sheriff’s Office to possibly work on an alternative.
City Attorney Mitch Driskill on Friday denied that such discussions have taken place. Yet according to ICSO Under-Sheriff Fred Miramontes via other local media “We had a discussion at the beginning of the week and they asked for figures and numbers of what the cost would be for general law enforcement. We are waiting for them to digest the numbers that we presented to them. Ultimately, that would be a discussion that if it were to take place between the sheriff and the county CEO and the Board of Supervisors.”
Driskill said he didn’t have knowledge of the officers’ request until May 1 when the officers submitted a letter to the city detailing their proposal and also noted he wasn’t aware of the deadline set by members of the police until Friday.
“I was surprised to hear about the deadline with such short notice,” Driskill said. He said the letter presented to the city came too late for the matter to be put on the agenda for the May 3 council meeting and if they want to, the issue can be put on the next meeting’s agenda which will take place on May 17. “I suggested to them to come to a city council meeting and present their proposal to the council and engage in a discussion. We’d love to hear their perspective.”
According to the source, the letter was delivered to the city as a last resort as the officers felt their request fell on deaf ears and said previous discussions with some city officials had taken place before the letter was sent to the city council.
The source said the police officers believe that at least one city official is looking into replacing the officers with ICSO deputies to police the city of Westmorland, a change that according to the source can have a bigger effect on the city’s finances than the raise the officers seek.
Another matter that has the Westmorland police officers worried is that the city reached an agreement with the Sheriff’s office to have a supervisor oversee the department starting May 15 due to the upcoming retirement of Police Chief Fred Beltran who has worked for the department for 38 years and is set to leave his post at the end of May.
According to Driskill, the Sheriff’s Office supervisor will help at the department while the city goes through the process of hiring a new chief of police and denied the ICSO involvement will be for the long term.
“There have not been any negotiations with the Sheriff’s Office about any long-term contract, there is a lengthy process to go that route and dismantle the police department,” he said. “There have been no negotiations and no direction from the council to do that.”