Police union contract signed

The Janesville City Council approved a collective bargaining agreement with the Janesville Police Department union Monday, October 24. Council member Melissa Kopachek was not present for this meeting.

City Attorney Jason Moran presented the agreement to the council. “The union started out with proposals they recognized they would not be getting through our negotiations,” he started. “After a bit of back and forth, we have an agreement which is very similar to what it was before.”

The changes included increasing the night shift differential pay from an additional $0.50 per hour to $1.50, a pay differential of $1.50 per hour for police department employees training new officers, and to place in writing an agreement for designating Christmas Eve as a half-day holiday that has been recognized since 2002.

Moran explained a police officer’s pay for court time. “If an officer is subpoenaed to testify and the court case is delayed or dropped, there is a $20 fee paid to the officer. We thought that was way too low. So, now officers receive an hour of overtime - time and a half - if they are notified within 24 hours of the court hearing that it’s delayed.”

The agreement included increased longevity pay (which Moran claimed was “ridiculously low”), a 4% pay increase for 2023, a 3% increase for 2024, and mirrored other areas in the city’s general personnel policy. “We took the stuff you’d do for normal employees and put it in the agreement,” Moran said.

The agreement will last two years and will need to be renewed November 1, 2024.

The council then discussed a rental issue on the property of 220 North Main Street. City Administrative Assistant Sara Britton claimed to have sent out a number of letters to the property without receiving any response. “We believe the property is being used as a rental,” she explained.

Moran explained that a city code provision required that background studies needed to be done on tenants. Despite being invited to the meeting, the property owners were not present and did not give any response to the city on the matter.

Moran offered council members two options. “You can give a clear directive that they get a background check done on the tenants by a certain date and pay the administrative fee,” he said. “If they don’t do that, their rental license will be automatically revoked.”

The other option was for the council to revoke the license and send a letter to the property owners stating this. The council chose the second option. 

Reports

Police Chief Dave Ulmen shared the third quarter police report. The department is maintaining an average of 500 calls per quarter. One item, a call that there had been an attempted murder, caught particular attention. 

“In my 22 years of being here, this is my first time having to investigate an attempted murder,” Ulmen claimed. “We have been using most of our resources in this case.”

Because of that one case, he told the council some budget items will be over their proposed figures.

Council member Jim Mulcahey and City Administrator Clinton Rogers informed the council that a crew will install new playground equipment at the brand new Oelke Park on the north side of Janesville starting Tuesday, October 25. “Hopefully, the installation is done within the next ten days,” Mulcahey said.

Mayor Andy Arnoldt reported that a recent meeting of the Economic Development Authority (EDA) had focused on housing solutions for Janesville; the group will have a presentation for the council at its December 13 meeting. The EDA had also discussed shrinking its board from seven seats to five.

Rogers told Arnoldt that to do that, the city needed to hold a public hearing. Former mayor and current council member Mike Santo affirmed that. “Five to six years ago, we increased the board size from five to seven. We had to do a public hearing for that. I’d assume it’d be the same.”

Other Business

The council approved two resignations, one from Community Development Director Marley Rohwer, whose last day will be Monday, November 14. Rogers thanked Rohwer for her nearly four years of service to the Janesville community.

“It will be hard to see her go,” Mulcahey said. “I thank Marley profusely for what she did for us.”

The second resignation was from Park Board member Melissa Cummins. The city declared a vacancy and will be looking to fill two seats soon.

Council members then approved to sign off on the waiver of the city’s boiler coverage and liability coverage. The meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m.