Recommendations that could help end the labor impasse between the town of Cape Elizabeth and the Cape Elizabeth Police Benevolent Association are expected by the end of the month.
On Wednesday, Sept. 6, the two sides met for a fact-finding session, an arbitration method with a neutral third party. Attending were the three state fact-finders: Joseph D’Arrigo, a labor arbitrator and mediator; Charles O’Leary, a retired official of the AFL/CIO; and Patricia Dunn, a lawyer with the firm Jensen Baird Gardner & Henry. Also at the session were Linda McGill, the town attorney; William McKinley, the police union’s attorney; Michael McGovern, town manager; Police Chief Neil Williams; Cape Elizabeth Police Benevolent Associate President Officer Mark Dorval; and associate representative Sgt. Andrew Steindl.
The arbitrators will issue a non-binding recommendation to be released the end of the month, said McGill. The two sides will then meet again.
The association represents eight police officers, three sergeants and four dispatchers. It has been without a contract since the prior three-year contract expired on June 30, 2005.
“We are not allowed to speak about the issues,” said McGovern.
Dorval, however, said an issue over the retirement plan is what led the association to an impasse. Dorval said the town has offered an increase in benefits for the 401(a) retirement plan, but police want back into the Maine State Retirement System. The state plan allows them to retire after 25 years with 50 percent of their pay, regardless of age. In 1994, the town decided to stop offering the state plan.
The town’s retirement plan mandates that officers cannot retire until they are 59.5 years old, said Dorval. Some officers think that is too old to be in the field, he said.
The Cape Elizabeth police have picketed several times in recent years, most recently in front of the town hall in April.
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