It’s being deemed a “groundbreaking” contract with its commitment to resources to support the wellness of uniform and civilian members of the St. Thomas Police Service. A contract likely to be emulated across the province.
The five-year deal was negotiated over the summer with the current agreements set to expire at the end of this year.
Wage increases of three per cent are included in the first three years of the deal, increasing to four per cent in the fourth year and five per cent in the final year (2028).
Other highlights include the updating of maternity and parental leave provisions as well as sick and family leave provisions.
Specialty unit remuneration has been adjusted and this would include role positions like breath technicians.
We sat down this week with St. Thomas Police Services Board chair Dan Reith to delve into the deal.
First off, why a five-year contract when three years has been fairly standard across the labour scene?
“I had a couple of goals when we began the process,” explained Reith.
“One was to negotiate a five-year contract. The reason being because we have a new chief and he is on a five-year contract. We have a board that has recently come in with a four-year mandate, by virtue of three of the board members come from the municipality.
“So, I thought from a convenience perspective, a five-year contract sort of fit the mould, so to speak.
‘Not only that, as we are seeing and hearing more and more about conservative budgeting and costs, I thought if we can get a five-year contract in place then that allows, at least the police services, to budget five years out and really give city council a good understanding of where police services is and where it needs to be to meet the needs of the community over the next five years.”
Reith took pains to underscore the board “recognizes the tremendous work that is being done each day to serve and protect our community, amidst unprecedented challenges and increasingly dangerous circumstances . . . .”
That leads into Reith’s second goal “to get a contract that would serve to attract, retain and respect the needs of our civilian and uniform officers. And I think we have achieved that.”
So the new contract includes experiential incentives and constable tiered-classification system increases geared to improve recruitment opportunities.
The face of policing is changing which is evident when you spend an overnight shift in a cruiser with an officer, something Reith and I have done more than once.
“And I don’t want to be a police services chair responsible for a situation when someone in the community calls 9-1-1 and we can’t service them.”
“I will say I have done drive-alongs with the officers,” pointed out the board chair, “I have chatted with some of the office staff and it’s not a job I would ever want to do.
“I certainly wouldn’t want to be front-line and what those in the call centre do and what they have to endure in terms of taking 9-1-1 calls.
“It is, in some respects, horrific. It is high stress, it is very psychologically taxing and I think what we achieved in our contract this time around really meets the needs that those folks have.”
So the experiential pay incentives apply to communications staff like the 9-1-1 dispatchers and call takers.
Reith noted, “more than ever, policing is changing and the city’s needs are changing and our crime index is up 13 per cent.
“And I don’t want to be a police services chair responsible for a situation when someone in the community calls 9-1-1 and we can’t service them.”
The service is logging 25,000 calls for service annually, 60,000 calls into the communications centre and 15,000 9-1-1 calls according to police figures, thus the increase in the crime severity index.
“When you look at it from the comparative perspective, we are lean,” stressed Reith.
“We are running lean. Retired chief (Chris) Herridge and Chief Roskamp in his role as Deputy Chief did an incredible job at squeezing the budget as tight as they could and civilianizing as many jobs as possible.
“We cannot continue to tighten and still have a force that can respond to the needs of the community and have a force that will allow our civilian and uniformed officers to work safely.”
“Therefore the cost of those civilianized roles is cheaper than what is being done by a uniformed officer. They have also taken advantage of opportunities to send senior officers to work and to coach and train at the Ontario Police College, who in turn pay us the equivalent of a wage which we can then use to hire new, younger front-line officers.
“But, in the process, we are saving some money in doing that but we’re also losing talent. But, that’s what happens when you squeeze a budget as tight as we have because the service under retired chief Herridge was very cognizant of the city’s request of tighten that budget.”
You just have to look at some comparative budget figures.
Woodstock with 96 officers has a budget this year of $19.4 million.
Timmins also operates with 96 officers with an $18.1 million budget while the St. Thomas Police Service has 77 officers with a 2023 budget of $14.5 million.
“I think we’ve gotten to the point now where there is no more tightening to be done,” cautions Reith.
“We cannot continue to tighten and still have a force that can respond to the needs of the community and have a force that will allow our civilian and uniformed officers to work safely.
“We now have to have a budget that reflects what the actual reality is of this circumstance and as Chief Roskamp says, meets the modern moment of policing.”
“Relevant and competitive collective agreements that address police recruitment, member retention and wellness are examples of our board’s strategic forethought.”
Keep in mind, since December of 2022 17 officers have spent various time off duty due to injuries sustained answering calls.
“Add to that,” notes Reith, “the catch-and-release program the federal government has put into place with regard to criminal acts, you have officers spending hours and hours doing paperwork to simply arrest someone and turn them back on the street only to arrest them again, do more paperwork and release them again and so on.
“It’s almost become thankless.
“We need a force that responds and, from my perspective, getting a contract that is something that will attract new . . . because policing is having a challenge now attracting new talent.
“Particularly because of the whole defund policing piece. I think that contributed, less north of the border, but there is that piece out there. It’s not as attractive as it used to be, for many respects.”
He cites the example of Timmins which has taken to offering large signing bonuses to bring officers up there.
“Somewhere between $35,000 and $50,000, I believe it is.
“But, if you use that to attract talent to St. Thomas, that’s great but once that mandatory work period is done to sort of pay for the signing bonus, they are free to leave.
“So, we don’t want that. We want people to stay and thus we developed this five-year contract the way we did to attract and retain.”
Const. Paul Tunks, president of the St. Thomas Police Association pointed out, “The challenges facing police staff across Canada are well documented and it was important that a new collective agreement reflect these challenges.”
Chief Roskamp added, “the agreements have been tailored to suit the climate in policing now and into the future.
“Relevant and competitive collective agreements that address police recruitment, member retention and wellness are examples of our board’s strategic forethought,” praised Roskamp in light of “these unprecedented times.”
That have seen 10 police officers across the country killed in the line of duty in recent months.
HOSPICE OF ELGIN ‘ALMOST READY’ TO BEGIN
Robert Furneaux, vice-president of the Hospice of Elgin board of directors, Laura Sherwood, interim executive director of Hospice of Elgin and several others will appear before council as a deputation at Monday’s (Oct. 16) meeting.
They will present an update on the project since Sherwood last appeared before council in May of this year.
According to Sherwood, they are “almost ready” to get shovels in the ground and 75 per cent of their updated campaign goal of $17 million has been achieved.
The group is now asking council to consider a gift of $550,000, which is in addition to the land donated by the city two years ago.
The site is located at the top of the hill overlooking Waterworks Park, just west of Msgr. Morrison Catholic Elementary School.
Sherwood advises, “Market conditions have placed significant growing pressures on the project (and the community campaign).
It certainly has been a lengthy journey as we noted back in December 2018.
The push began in 2002 with a fundraising concert for Serenity House Hospice, featuring Canada’s singing priest, Rev. Mark Curtis.
On Dec. 20, 2018, at the CASO station, then Elgin-Middlesex-London MPP Jeff Yurek announced he had received a letter from the province’s health minister supporting a six-bed facility and encouraging the hospice planning committee to submit a capital program application.
The early groundwork of individuals including Linda Corriveau and Peggy Gillespie must be acknowledged, although there are some who who would rather their contributions be dismissed.
Today the facility will house 10 beds in a cottage-like setting.
According to Sherwood, Hospice of Elgin will be a community asset “that will help attract individuals, families and businesses to our community, supporting future economic development.”
Kind of like the Volkswagen EV battery plant in that respect.
And you have to know one of the questions to be asked by at least one member of council will be how much is the County of Elgin contributing financially?
The request comes on the heels of a $2.5 million ask last week for the MRI campaign at St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital and a $3 million ask for Project Tiny Hope.
The latter received conditional support over the summer.
Related posts:
Hospice of Elgin – ‘No longer is hospice a place for just final moments’
HIGHBURY AVENUE UPDATE
In July of this year, we included an item on the shape of things to come at the city’s new industrial park.
It included upgrades to the Highbury Avenue corridor.
Specifically, Highbury Avenue would be widened to five lanes between Ron McNeil Line and Dennis Road with the widening occurring on the east side side of the roadway.
From Dennis Road south, Highbury would be widened to four lanes to South Edgeware Road.
Highbury Road would be extended south to the Hwy. 3 bypass.
An update to the project will be in front of council for Monday’s meeting, including the findings and results of the mandatory environmental assessment review.
The assessment study draft report can be read here.
The report recommends a road widening along Highbury Avenue from Ron McNeil Line to South Edgeware Road to four through lanes and a shared centre left lane be implemented.
In addition, it is recommended Highbury Avenue be extended to Highway 3 and construct roundabouts at Ron McNeil, South Edgeware and Highway 3.
Highbury Avenue was not identified as a cycling route in the city’s last master plan.
In a separate Ministry of Transportation undertaking, Highway 3 would be widened west from Centennial Avenue to a new bypass taking the roadway north of Talbotville.
Related posts:
The shape of things to come at the new industrial park in St. Thomas
St. Thomas area growth triggers major realignment of roads and highways
A CUTTING NEED OVER AT THE CEMETERY
The St. Thomas Cemetery Company has pretty much eluded headlines for the past eight years after a protracted spat with council of the day over its operating grant.
St. Thomas Cemetery Company operates historic West Ave. Cemetery and South Park Cemetery south of the city in Central Elgin.
West Avenue Cemetery in St. Thomas
It had served notice in 2015 that it would seek to abandon the two burying grounds effective April 30 of that year if the long-standing city grant wasn’t reinstated.
In the preceding decade, the cemetery company had annually received anywhere from $59,000 to $65,000 in operating grants.
In a letter to council for Monday’s meeting, cemetery board chair Carolyn Fredan is requesting a grant of $6,500 to replace one of their lawnmowers required to maintain the 20-acre property.
In February 2021 council approved new grant guidelines which involved “maintaining a funding level to the St. Thomas Cemetary Company at a level not to exceed the lower of 20 per cent of their operating budget or an adjustment as defined by the Consumer Price Index.”
It is to be hoped this modest request will not lead to the monetary squabbling witnessed eight years ago.
A situation prompted then cemetery manager Lesley Buchanan to observe, “I hope that going forward it won’t be the battering of heads, it will be working together to try and find a common solution.”
Related posts:
FOR THE CALENDAR
It’s that time of year. Preparations for Christmas celebrations are underway at city hall.
The annual tree-lighting ceremony along with a Light Up Talbot event is just a month away with this year’s festivities scheduled for Friday, Nov. 17 and the Santa Claus parade the following evening.
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