Forest Lake police unanimously approve labor agreement

Forest Lake police officers on Thursday unanimously approved a three-year contract that would keep them, rather than county deputies, patrolling the city's streets, a swift reversal from the City Council's decision only days ago to disband the department.

The council will decide Monday whether to ratify the labor agreement.

Sean Gormley, executive director of Law Enforcement Labor Services, called Thursday "a great day for Forest Lake and a great day for our police officers." His union represents the department's 23 sworn officers, who had been working without a formal contract since Jan. 1.

The contract approval was the latest surprising development in a turbulent week for Forest Lake, as city and police leaders worked to decide which law enforcement department — theirs or the Washington County Sheriff's Office — would keep the peace in the city of 20,000.

"This has been a tremendously difficult issue for our community," Forest Lake City Administrator Aaron Parrish said. "I'm encouraged by the fact that we were able to come to an agreement."

He said he hopes it marks the beginning of a "healing process" for the city and improves the relationship between the council and police force.

"One of the underlying tones of this whole conversation was the lack of partnership between the City Council and the police department," he said.

Those who backed the proposal to have the county take over the city's law enforcement duties argued that it would save Forest Lake about $385,000 a year. But Parrish said the city's 2017 budget already accounts for the raises outlined in the new agreement, and added that the city would figure out how to accommodate future years as officials prepare those budgets.

The Forest Lake police budget this year is just over $4 million, with city taxpayers covering about $3.3 million.

After months of community debate, the City Council voted 3-2 Monday night to disband the police force and negotiate a contract with the Sheriff's Office. The move was met with strong objections from many in the city, including high school students who left school in droves Tuesday and marched to City Hall in support of the police.

Parrish and Gormley said they met Wednesday morning to talk about the council's vote. "I don't think we were as far apart as we might have envisioned," Parrish said. They decided to set up a meeting for 5 p.m. Wednesday to negotiate a new agreement between the police union and the city.

An hour before that meeting, they learned that County Sheriff Dan Starry was planning to withdraw the county's proposal to contract with the city, Gormley said.

Both Starry and his predecessor, Bill Hutton, have said they didn't initiate the contract proposal with Forest Lake but had responded to the city's request.

Negotiations on Wednesday lasted 2 ½ to 3 hours, going back and forth "to make sure both sides were satisfied with the result," Gormley said. Later that evening, city officials announced that they had reached a tentative agreement with the police officers and their union.

In a statement, Winnick said that both the city and the police union "made tough concessions," and that he looked forward to the City Council discussion on the agreement.

Parrish said that the police and city also agreed to a "conflict resolution and mediation process," and to have a third party assess the police department's operations. He said that he will recommend the council ratify the agreement.

"There's definitely some real relationship work that needs to be done," he said.