Perrysburg Twp. police units reject fact-finding

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LIME CITY – Perrysburg Township police employees will go to another mediator to reach a new pact with
administration after voting to reject a fact finder’s report.
Members of three police bargaining units covering officers, dispatchers and sergeants have been without a
contract since the beginning of the year. Both the police and fire unions entered fact-finding this year
after failing to agree with township administration, with firefighters approving similar but separate
terms in May.
Township trustees approved the police fact-finding report last week, but the details weren’t to the
liking of the members of the police unions, which include six dispatchers, 20 patrol officers and
detectives, and four sergeants.
Terms approved by trustees but rejected by the unions include a 1.5-percent raise in 2014 and 2015, and 2
percent in 2015.
The raises proposed by the fact finder cover cost of living but do not address a gap between the pay in
the township and that of other area departments, said Michelle Sullivan, an attorney representing the
three unions.
"In comparing these bargaining unit members to other similarly situated employees in surrounding
jurisdictions, we believe they are underpaid," Sullivan said.
Sullivan said the groups will select an arbitrator in the next few weeks, but a hearing won’t likely be
until August or September.
Both sides will explain their positions to the third party, who unlike the fact finder will rule for
either party rather than try to generate a compromise, Sullivan explained.
"The fact finder in this case fashioned a recommendation somewhere in between what the two sides
proposed; the conciliator don’t have that option," she said. "They will award either the
unions’ position or the township position. There is no in-between."

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