The men and women who work in adjacent roles to police officers in Park Ridge got some good news this month.
The Park Ridge employees who are members of the Illinois Council of Police (ICOPs) will receive a 4.5 % pay hike this year and pay hikes over the next two years, thanks to a new collective bargaining agreement approved at the June 1 city council meeting.
Despite the union’s title, this isn’t the union representing sworn police officers, and the raise in pay will not benefit police officers.
Rather, ICOPs members include ancillary employees who may work alongside police or help enforce city laws but aren’t sworn officers. These positions include things like code enforcers, community service officers (parking officers), and administrative assistants. Chris Lipman, the city’s finance director, said that, in total, this pay bump will apply to 43 employees and cost the city an additional $1 million over the duration of the three-year contract. Six of the positions are vacant.
The negotiations all happened in executive session, behind closed doors, but the final vote was unanimous. No one from the city council commented publicly on the new agreement.
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The overall agreement will result in small pay bumps for everybody covered by the agreement and annual pay hikes of about 4 % for the duration of the deal. The contract will have an overall cost increase over the last agreement with the city of 14.4 % over the next few years, or a hike of about 4.8 % annually.
Talks began in March. The old contract expired in April and the new ICOPS contract is effective immediately and holds until 2029, when it will be automatically renewed year to year unless there’s an agreed modification. Both sides would have to agree to the modification.
Jesse Wright is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.