Results are expected Friday evening on whether Cincinnati’s police officers will take six unpaid furlough days to help balance the city’s budget.
The 1,050 members of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), Queen City Lodge 69, will vote on the matter this Thursday and Friday at the union hall in Over-the-Rhine and in five police districts in the city.
FOP president Kathy Harrell says the general sentiment toward the plan has been "no."
That’s also the stance of the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) Local 48.
Harrell took that sentiment with her to Wednesday morning meeting with Cincinnati City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr.,
How did he respond?
"If we do not give those six unpaid days, which would be by the end of 2009, then he wants to meet with us again – and he’s asking us to give up contractual concessions worth $1.5 million," Harrell related.
She wouldn’t speculate on what that might entail.
There has been talk that up to 100 police officers might be laid off because the amount of one federal grant may not be as much as expected.
However, Harrell says that layoffs are not likely because of promises she says she’s received from six of the nine members of Cincinnati City Council.
"I’ve been speaking with council members and I’ve been told by six of them that they will not vote to lay off police officers," Harrell added.
That development occurred as Council member Greg Harris floated an idea to merge the Cincinnati Police Department and the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office.
"Essentially, you would deputize 1,135 police officers as sheriff’s deputies," Harris said. "So, 1,135 police officers instead of working under the police department would be working under the sheriff’s department with the City of Cincinnati as its jurisdiction."
The FOP’s Harrell called that a "very bad idea."
The concept is similar to metro government systems that are underway in the Lexington, Louisville and Indianapolis areas.
Dohoney is familiar with the concept, having worked in both of the Kentucky cities.
