Committee created to aid in continued negotiations

By Megan Kelley
Staff Writer
LAKE ORION — The Lake Orion Village Council meeting had more attendees than usual on Monday, with residents and employees of the Lake Orion Police Department coming and speaking about their disappointment in the ongoing process of filling the police chief position.
For several months now, Lt. Todd Stanfield has been acting as interim police chief and it has been a relatively open secret that he is the lead contender on a very short list of people the council would like to see fill the position permanently.
Despite backing from the village council, residents and LOPD employees, Stanfield and village Manager Darwin McClary have been unable to negotiate a contract, with Stanfield saying the reason is because McClary has not actually tried to negotiate anything with him.
Because of this, Stanfield sent a letter last Thursday to the village saying he was no longer interested in taking the police chief position.
“Yes, I did send a letter last Thursday morning, not to take the police job. I feel there is no fair negotiation here. I’ve never sat down at a table with the manager about any discussions. He asked me for a letter of what I wanted in a contract. I provided a letter. Two weeks later, I went back and asked him about that letter. He said no to what I put in the letter. I wrote a second letter. I was told no on those demands too. So, how are we negotiating in good faith here when you don’t sit at a table and go back and forth?” Stanfield said. “He brings me a contract today, in the last hour, at 3:05 today. So, I have to make a decision to give you something today at 7:30? That’s not how you negotiate a contract.”
Though he had sent a letter backing out of negotiations, Stanfield rescinded his letter at the meeting, agreeing to continue with negotiations but only if McClary would actually sit down and negotiate with him.
Several employees of the LOPD spoke in favor of Stanfield, calling the contract he was given “insulting.” Others said they not only needed a police chief to help with staffing — as some officers are working between 40 and 70 hours of overtime every two weeks — but also that they simply just want Stanfield to be the police chief.
“I have officers here, this is what they want. I have citizens here, this is what they want. Why can’t we even get to a table?” Stanfield said.
While council was not aware of the negotiations being made, members of council, including council President Jerry Narsh, who worked for the LOPD for 38 years, also noted that they too wanted Stanfield to be the police chief, adding that this hold up is not helping with the staffing issues the department is currently facing.
“This has taken a lot of time. You have really had to extend yourself. The department has had to extend itself. Without this getting done, we can’t hire, we can’t promote another lieutenant. We’re in a stalemate, if you will, and we have to move forward,” said Councilmember Ken Van Portfliet. “The LOPD does a great job. You hear that all the time. We see everybody out there, I thank you for that. But like I said earlier, we gotta get this done.”
Some members of council also said that while it might be less costly to just get rid of the department all together and use the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, nobody wanted to do that because both themselves and the community see a lot of value in having their own police department.
President Pro-Tem Teresa Rutt said that residents have brought up the issue of switching to the sheriff’s office but added that she was a staunch advocate for keeping the LOPD.
“That is one hill that I’d be willing to die on every single time,” Rutt said.
Councilmember Michael Lamb stepped down from his council chair to speak from the podium as a private citizen.
“One thing I’ve often gone back and forth with the budget is whether having a personal police force for the village is economical versus the sheriff’s department,” Lamb said. “What we discovered is that the village residents like to have their own police force. I think that most of us agree with that.”
Stanfield himself knows the value he brings, saying that if the council needs to be shown that, he can fill up the room at their next meeting with people who want to see him as police chief.
Getting that wave started was former Councilmember Doug Hobbs, who had been watching the meeting at his home a few blocks away and ran to Village Hall to deliver some winded words of support for Stanfield.
After a lot of discussion between residents, LOPD employees and the council, McClary took a moment to give some additional context to his side of the situation, stating that he was encouraged by the discussion that had taken place.
“I’m encouraged by council’s comments to continue negotiations. I would love to see Chief Stanfield stay on as police chief. I offered him the position because he has my confidence,” McClary said.
McClary also explained some of the details of the contract that was presented to Stanfield, stating that it was the same contract given to former Police Chief Harold Rossman with only two differences: Stanfield was offered $85,600 a year while Rossman was given $74,000 a year; and Stanfield was offered 80 hours of compensatory time a year, while Rossman was receiving 40 hours of compensatory time a year.
McClary then suggested that the council create a committee to aid in negotiations and make sure that what is brought back to council is something they can accept and approve.
“I hope the council understands that when I’m making decisions on individual contracts, I have to look at the impact on the entire organization. We have 17 full-time employees and a number of department heads. We have to be as fair, uniform and consistent with all of our employees as we possibly can, especially our non-union, salaried, employees. And that is a concern of mine, making sure that we are fair, uniform and consistent, that we’re treating everyone the same,” McClary said. “I have to be able to justify why I have offered to one employee something that other employees don’t have.”
Three council members were excited to be a part of the committee; Narsh, Van Portfliet and Nancy Moshier. They said they felt passionate about the topic and expressed their preference of having Stanfield stay on as police chief.
Lamb made a motion to create the committee to conduct a preliminary review of the continuation of the contract negotiations with Stanfield, which received support from Van Portfliet and was approved by council unanimously.
This means that the committee would meet and aid McClary in drafting negotiations and speak on behalf of the council’s wishes, but would not sit in on those negotiations.
Narsh stated that he hoped negotiations could be complete by the next council meeting on Oct. 23.