Bulletproof Vest Saved Officer’s Life, Chief Tells Council
BY NANCY GAGNET — MIRROR REPORTER
The outcome for one Maumee police officer would have been very different if he hadn’t been wearing his bulletproof vest.
Maumee Police Chief Bob Zink told members of Maumee City Council at their September 6 meeting that a bulletproof vest worn by an officer responding to a call in Sylvania saved his life.
“I say thank you in the most sincere possible way,” Zink said.
In August 2010, council approved the $25,088 purchase of 13 tactical body armor vests, which cost approximately $1,900 each.
According to Zink, the officer involved, whom he didn’t want to name, was part of an 11-member special response unit, or SWAT team, called on May 8 to assist the Sylvania Police Department.
Initially the team was called to establish communication with an armed suspect involved in a standoff with police.
To deliver a telephone, the officers had to break out windows in the first-floor apartment where the man lived, Zink said.
“At that point the suspect started firing on our officers, but there was no return fire,” he said.
The Maumee officers also placed a robot camera into the apartment before attempting to enter the front door, Zink said.
“That’s when the suspect opened fire on our officers and two of our men returned fire,” he said.
In the exchange, one of the Maumee officers was hit, Zink said.
“One of the rounds hit the officer in the mid-chest. It was embedded in the shock plate of the vest,” he said.
The suspect, 67-year-old James DeClercq, was killed.
While the vest remains at the Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification, Zink brought another vest to show members of council.
“Some of the best equipment is costly but here’s proof and the reason why we need it – an officer’s life was saved,” he said.
City law director Sheilah McAdams, who sits on the firearms review board, said that the officers who were involved followed all of the appropriate policies and procedures.
“The restraint the officers used even under direct fire was impressive. Their professionalism was incredible and we have a lot to be proud of,” she said.
Zink said that although mutual aid agreements exist, it is uncommon that Maumee is called to assist other communities.
The SWAT teams, Zink said, have separate mutual aid agreements with Toledo, Maumee, Oregon, Sylvania and Sylvania Township.
City, Firefighters Union Reach Contract Agreement
BY NANCY GAGNET — MIRROR REPORTER
Fire division employees in the city of Maumee have agreed to changes in their contract for 2012.
Members of the International Association of Firefighters, or IAFF, Local 5436, which represents paramedics, paramedic squad leaders and fire prevention inspectors, agreed to amend their wages and benefits for a one-year period beginning January 1, 2012.
Following a brief executive session at its September 6 meeting, Maumee City Council approved the agreement.
The city does not employ full-time firefighters; however, there are 14 employees in the IAFF, said city finance director Linda Wilker.
The new terms, which were discussed as part of the current collective bargaining agreement, will increase employees’ contribution to health insurance from 10 to 15 percent.
According Wilker, with the change, the costs for those who pay for single coverage will increase from $49.50 to $75.08 per month, or an additional $306.96 per year.
Family coverage will increase from $114.38 monthly to $150, or an additional $427.44 per year.
“The IAFF collective bargaining agreement contains a provision capping employees’ share of health insurance to $150 per month. A full 15 percent increase would result in an employee contribution of $172.40 per month,” Wilker said.
With the new agreement, the city will save $4,701.84 in health insurance costs, she said.
“If all bargaining and non-bargaining units include the same provision, the health insurance savings to the city would be $57,707.52,” she said.
In addition to changes in health care costs, workweek hours have also changed.
Workweek hours for paramedics and paramedic squad leaders will be reduced from 48 to 42 hours per week.
The fire prevention inspectors will continue to work 40 hours per week, said Wilker.
There is little change to the number of overtime hours the employees receive, Wilker said.
“The paramedics and paramedic squad leaders rarely earn double time, so the overtime change will be nominal,” she said
The fire prevention inspectors typically earn double time only when they are on public assembly stand-by on a Sunday, such as at an event at the Lucas County Recreation Center, she said.
In addition, the two fire prevention inspectors may earn 25 hours each of double time annually, which will now be paid at time and half, resulting in a savings of less than $1,000, she said.
Each employee also received a 1 percent lump sum payment, which will cost the city approximately $7,700.
In the first pay period in 2012, the employees will also receive a 3 percent base wage increase, which will cost the city approximately $30,000 in wages and benefits.
In August, IAFF staff representative Roy Hollenbacher informed the city’s labor attorney, Michael Angelo, that the union wanted to open negotiations.
Wilker said the city anticipates receiving notices to negotiate from the other labor unions this week.
The contracts with the IAFF as well as the Fraternal Order of Police and the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, which includes the city’s service workers and a portion of clerical staff, expire on December 31, 2011.
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