BACK MATT RAPID REPLY

Well in the wisdom of our leaderless Aurora’s City Council, we

have place laziness with Pink slips to 8 of Aurora’s Police
officers. Instead of work on get the 1,000,000 back from the
Drug bust in the maple park area this past summer, thru the
1505 federal forfeiture act. The City council continues to go on
and wasting more and more monies for new salaries on a
imitation of a economic advisory board. In which each member
will be paid almost 100,000 a year and a lobbyist contract for
five years at cost to taxes payers of 450,000.

Instead we put our citizens at risk again and embolden the

local gang leaders to increase their opportunity to create more
havoc and mayhem.

When will enough be enough, for the past 5 years the Mayor
and City Council has wasted over 29,000,000 dollars with their
eyes wide closed to the economic realities around us.

But yet they continue to spend and spend and spend. We as

Aurorans must put a stop to this and use the up coming
elections to make a better way for Aurora today.

Matt Harrington
Candidate for Aurora’s Alderman at Large
BACK MATT in 2011
Aurora lays off eight police officers
By Andre Salles asalles@stmedianetwork.com Nov 30, 2010 6:40PM
AURORA — Eight members of the Aurora Police Department have received layoff
notices from the city.
The eight all serve in the patrol ranks, and are all members of the Association of
Professional Police Officers, the union that represents the rank-and-file officers. The
layoffs will be effective Jan. 1, city officials said, and the union has until then to bargain
for their reinstatement.
Layoff notices were handed to five of the eight officers Monday night, officials said, due
to scheduling differences. According to Dave Schmidt, president of APPO, one of the
eight is serving in the Army Reserve in Missouri, and will not get his notice until he
returns.
With the city facing an $18 million budget shortfall headed into 2011, city leaders have
asked all employees for a 10 percent reduction in salaries. For APPO, that translates to
roughly $2 million in concessions, which can come from wages or benefits.
But both APPO and the Aurora Sergeants Union, which represents sergeants, lieutenants
and commanders, have said they will not discuss concessions this year. According to
Chief Management Officer Carie Anne Ergo, this is the reason layoff notices were
handed out, and handed only to police officers.
Earlier this year, APPO agreed to about $875,000 in concessions for 2010, and members
gave up a scheduled 2.5 percent raise. Aurora Sergeants Union members did not give
concessions for 2010 — the only one of the city’s 10 unions not to do so.
The city will continue to maintain the same number of community-oriented police
officers, as well as school resource and gang prevention officers, as before the layoffs,
Ergo said.
Schmidt said officers should not have been laid off before the budget was presented to
aldermen. The 2011 budget, initially due in October, was delivered to Finance Committee
members Tuesday night, and will be given to all aldermen today.
“Why do it now before aldermen can take a look at the budget and see what else can be
cut?” Schmidt said. “It’s a little premature.”

Ergo said officers must be given 30 days’ notice of layoffs, and since the police unions
have not agreed to concession discussions, and a balanced budget is due on Jan. 1, Mayor
Tom Weisner elected to serve notices now.
City leaders have been warning of potential police layoffs for more than a month. Union
leaders were initially told they could lose more than 20 officers if concessions were not
given.
APPO had suggested several ways to reduce spending and raise revenue, including
instituting a booking fee for arrested suspects, and training evidence techs to test for
marijuana, a service the city currently outsources. None of the suggestions have been
implemented.
Before these layoffs, the APD was 11 officers short of its maximum allotment of 247.
Two more officers took a voluntary separation offer the city made in October, and they
will leave their jobs next month. The union can enter into impact bargaining with the city
and offer other concessions instead of layoffs, but should Monday’s cuts stand, the APD
will be down to 226 officers.
Kifowit, Lawrence opposed
While most of the aldermen did not comment on the layoffs Tuesday, two of the most
outspoken sent written statements of outrage upon hearing the news.
Alderman Stephanie Kifowit, 3rd Ward, criticized Mayor Tom Weisner for using layoffs
as a way to “strong-arm concessions,” and suggested using some of the emergency
general fund balance to pay for public safety. The city must, by law, reserve a certain
amount of general funds, and Kifowit suggested putting a one-year moratorium on this
law so this money could be used.
Alderman Rick Lawrence, 4th Ward, blamed Weisner and the City Council for
continuing to borrow and spend over the last five years, as warning signs of a financial
collapse mounted. He said laying off eight patrol officers does not address inefficiencies
or waste in the police department.
Lawrence suggested passing a temporary, bare-bones budget for 2011, laying off many
city workers and outsourcing their responsibilities, drafting a five-year plan and getting
pension costs under control before moving forward.
Ergo said talks are ongoing with the other eight non-police unions in the city. Schmidt
said APPO has not met with the city since the initial concession request in October.
Union members were scheduled to meet Tuesday night to discuss their options, Schmidt
said.