LITTLE ROCK — The Southern States Police Benevolent Association backed out on a settlement to abolish Pine Bluff’s Civil Service Commission on Wednesday evening.
However, attorney Bill James, whose law firm represents the benevolent association, which has sued the city, said he doesn’t expect the agreement to be postponed for long. He said the dispute hangs on the wording in a few paragraphs and he hopes they can be changed by the end of the week.
“The document covers far more people than our clients,” he said. “It might just be lawyers fighting over words — we have an agreement. The issue is we are not going to sign the agreement with the way [the defense] has it written. It doesn’t change the agreement in any form or fashion.”
Mark Hayes, the Arkansas Municipal League attorney representing the city, said Wednesday that he is willing to tweak the agreement but doesn’t understand the objection, noting that the proposed settlement represented all employees affected by the Civil Service Commission.
“I don’t know what the hang-up is,” he said.
The Pine Bluff Civil Service Commission has primarily set and enforced rules and regulations concerning the appointment, promotion and disciplinary actions of uniformed Pine Bluff firefighters and police officers. The commission also has overseen any appeals of disciplinary actions in a triallike format.
In June, all five Civil Service commissioners resigned their appointments. Richard Borgman, a former commissioner, has said the commission members did so because they felt unsupported by the community.
Under the proposed settlement, the City Council would set procedures and rules for uniformed firefighters and police officers if Jefferson County Circuit Judge Rob Wyatt Jr. approves.
The mayor, the Police Department and the Fire Department would be responsible for appointments, promotions and disciplinary actions of uniformed employees under the proposed settlement.
If a police officer or a firefighter wishes to appeal a disciplinary action such as a suspension or firing, he would go before a three-member appeal board made up of an assistant city attorney, a randomly selected city department head and a randomly selected city employee, said attorney Marjorie Rogers of Little Rock, who has also represented the Southern States Police Benevolent Association.
In 2007, the Pine Bluff City Council passed an ordinance to dissolve the Civil Service Commission because the bureaucracy had drawn out the process of hiring, firing and discipline, Hayes said.
Soon after, the Southern States Police Benevolent Association, of which some Pine Bluff officers were members, filed a lawsuit against the city challenging the ordinance. A judge issued an injunction on the abolishment of the commission and said it must function until the lawsuit was settled.
In 2008, the Arkansas Supreme Court said the Pine Bluff City Council “was free to establish its civil service commission by majority vote” and “is free to abolish its civil service commission by majority vote as well.”
But the lawsuit was still ongoing — it took years of settlement talks to near an agreement, and work on drafting an ordinance started in March, Rogers said.
In the proposed settlement, the city and Southern States Police Benevolent Association would agree to:
Accept the 2007 ordinance that abolishes the Civil Service Commission.
Recognize the full lawmaking power of the City Council to set procedures and guidelines that govern uniformed employees including firefighters and police officers.
Adopt rules and regulations for uniformed employees regarding appointments, promotions and discipline, pursuant to the agreement reached by the parties in mediation.
On Monday, the City Council approved an ordinance creating rules and regulations for uniformed Fire and Police department employees.
According to the proposed settlement, the City Council could not revise the rules and regulations for six months and could not abolish the ordinance until after a year, Hayes said.
However, Rogers said she hopes the City Council doesn’t ever abolish the new set of rules and regulations that the parties have worked so hard to agree upon.
Hayes — who drafted most of the newly passed ordinance — said he simplified multistep processes within Civil Service Commission rules and regulations.
“The ordinance removes a lot of the extraneous steps and processes that were in place,” Hayes said.
“The council feels strongly that the Civil Service Commission can be removed and the city can still provide a great place to work and provide a great product — firefighting and crime fighting.”
Civil Service Commissions are fairly uncommon in the state — there are only about 20, Hayes said.
Hayes said he estimates that taxpayers have paid $104,000 in legal costs associated with attorney fees, copying, depositions and transcript fees — not including the hours that city employees have spent working on the case.
Rogers said the major sticking point throughout the settlement talks was uniformed employees’ right to legal counsel during an appeal.
The appeal board will no longer be similar to a trial proceeding with legal counsel speaking on behalf of the employee, although legal counsel can still be present and advise the uniformed employee, Rogers said.
The Southern States Police Benevolent Association also added to the agreement that uniformed employees can be dismissed only for just cause, Rogers said.
“There are definitely some changes that will be made in the rules and regulations,” she said. “It’s a very fair settlement.”
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 07/21/2011