Call it the calming before the storm.
Miami-Dade Police Deputy Director Juan Perez sent a feel good memo to all department personnel Friday morning telling them 
that he was going to do “everything necessary” to avoid “this worst case scenario” — the firing of 283 positions, including 228 officers.
The memo comes more than a week after Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez got his wish of a zero tax increase in the general millage, which means a shortfall that the mayor says can only be resolved through the extension of union concessions that he agreed three years ago would end in October.
Perez sounds a little like a coach rallying his team and could be meant as a morale booster in a department that is 300 short and losing about nine officers a month, according to sources. The numbers at Human Resource won’t jive because positions are being eliminated as people retire.
“As you are aware, the Department continues to face a budget shortfall, which leads us in a direction where many employees may potentially be laid off. Although the budgetary gap has been reduced, we are still facing the possibility of losing approximately 228 sworn and 55 non-sworn personnel. On Tuesday, July 15, 2014, during the Board of County Commissioners meeting, the County Commissioners voted on establishing the tax millage for the upcoming fiscal year. Unfortunately, the established tax millage does not fill the gap for our Department. Absent the increase of the tax millage, we still face the same budgetary challenge and potential layoffs.
Although, we did not have a positive outcome during the commission meeting, I remain optimistic that a resolution is
forthcoming. Any layoffs will be detrimental to the Department, the community, and most of all, the individual employee. We have been and will continue to work diligently with the administration and unions to resolve the issue. Rest assured that we will do everything necessary to avoid this worst case scenario.
Be patient with this ongoing process. I understand many of you are anxious about the future of the Department and your personal well being. We will remain steadfast and continue to seek a solution. In the meantime, continue to show the citizens that we are an essential part of this community. Thank you for your hard work and professionalism throughout this process.”
He sent it from his ipad at 9:02 a.m. Was he in Gimenez’s office, hence the mayor’s “worst case scenario” language?
And what, exactly, can he “work diligently” on to resolve the issue? There is not a lot of fat at the police department. People who complain about the overtime don’t realize that we are 250-300 officers short — and bleeding blue almost every week. Officers have said that they might think twice about risking their lives out there. Ladra doesn’t believe them, but even if they are just talking trash, it still reflects a general souring among the rank and file.
So does he mean that the brass will push the PBA to buckle and sign off on the “snap backs” on certain pay upgrades in order to save jobs? Maybe. Maybe not. Ladra has a call in to Deputy Director Perez and will let you know when I hear back.
But maybe he ought to be writing to the mayor and commissioners to let them know exactly how any further layoffs would be “detrimental to the department.”
Last time we spoke to PBA President John Rivera he said membership was unwilling to give back everything at a negotiation table where there was no use talking to a wall/with an administration that had no credibility left. Has the climate changed?
No, it has not, said Blanca Torrents Greenwood, the executive director of the PBA, who is taking a more public role lately and Ladra suspects it is because Rivera is a bit of a polarizing figure.
“Optimism is always a great thing. But I don’t know what has changed,” Torrents Greenwood told Ladra, adding that there have been no new bargaining sessions scheduled. “And we receive our marching orders from the membership.”
And word is that there will still be layoffs — or positions eliminated — even with the concessions extended. The mayor said that there would still be layoffs when he discussed the “best case scenario” budget and tax rate with commissioners last week. Ladra has asked if that is the case in the police and how many fired cops we are talking about in the “best case scenario.”
Gimenez spokesman Michael Hernandez told Ladra Friday afternoon that those rumors are not true. There will be “no layoffs by continuing concessions,” he said in an email.
Can we hear it directly from the mayor?
Miami-Dade Police brass: We’re ‘optimistic’ so keep working added by Ladra on
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