Emergency Meeting Likely Needed To Pay Police New Contracts

A special city council meeting will likely have to be called to pass a salary ordinance, allowing the police officers to be paid their new salary.

All ordinances on first reading were tabled on Wednesday night in order to shorten the meeting (which ended close to midnight).  The list of ordinances, however, included an updated version of the salary ordinance. Without passing, the police cannot be paid their new salaries.

"The Council wasn't aware," said Council President Beth Mason in a phone interview on Thursday morning. "Where was the public safety director in all this?"

The city and the police unions including raises and back pay for years the police had been without contracts.

Police Superior Officer Association President Eddie Drishti said he would like Council President Mason to call a special meeting, passing the ordinance. Without the ordinance, "it all gets pushed back," Drishti said.

Mason said that a special meeting will likely get called, especially because the next scheduled meeting is not until the first week of April.