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The Cary Town Council recently passed
important policy revisions in relation to the law
enforcement officer’s separation allowance. The policy
Law Enforcement Officers’ Separation Allowance (HR06-05),
was passed on February 9, 2006. The policy that was
originally brought before the Operations Committee on
December 7, 2005, was of serious concern to the Cary Chapter
PBA membership. As originally written, the policy would have
set the following eligibility requirements in place:
To qualify for payment of the special separation
allowance, a retiring sworn law enforcement officer must
have (a) 30 or more years of creditable service with the
North Carolina Local Law Enforcement Officers Retirement
System or (b) have attained 55 years of age with at least 5
years of creditable service and:
The separation allowance recipient
loses eligibility and payments will cease if the
retired officer is 1) re-employed in any position at the
Town of Cary, 2) employed by any North Carolina city,
county, state government agency or other governmental agency
in a position which requires participation in the North
Carolina Government Retirement System, or 3) employed in a
position which requires law enforcement certification by the
North Carolina Department of Justice at any governmental
agency or organization which participates in the North
Carolina government retirement system. If the retired
officer regains eligibility, the retired officer may request
reinstatement of the separation allowance as long as the
retired officer continues to be eligible according to the
conditions set forth in NC General Statute 143-166.41 and
143-166.42.
According to the staff report the Town was making their
decision pursuant to G.S. 143-166.41 and 143-166.42, the
governing body for each unit of local government shall be
responsible for making determinations of eligibility for
continued payment of the separation allowance if the retired
officer is employed. Based on research and the recent Court
of Appeals decision in
Campbell vs. The City of Laurinburg, the intent of
the General Assembly in enacting N.C. General Statute
143-166.42 was to give authority to the local governing body
to cease payment of the separation allowance.
The policy as originally written would not only have limited
a retiree’s opportunity to work for the town, but in any
position as a sworn officer in both local and state
government, including part time employment. It also had the
potential to affect retirees working in a non-sworn position
for state government. This was an issue because if could
affect retirees working as law enforcement instructors in
the community college system for example. Although the
General Statue and Court of Appeals allows a municipality to
govern the separation allowance, it didn’t make it mandatory
for a municipality to do so. These concerns were addressed
to various council members by the Cary Chapter PBA
membership.
Council Member
Nels Roseland offered his input about the policy at
the Operations Committee meeting on December 7, 2005. He was
filling in for Council Member Jennifer Robinson for this
committee meeting. He was the dissenting vote for the policy
to move as a consent agenda item and voiced his concerns
especially as they related to retiree’s working as law
enforcement instructors after retiring from the Town. The
policy moved forward to be addressed at the December 15,
2005 council meeting as a discussion item. The policy was
removed from the council agenda however, and was placed on
the agenda for the January 12, 2006 council meeting.
The Cary Chapter PBA membership continued to offer insight
about the original policy to council members. The policy was
pulled again from the January 12, 2006 agenda and was later
placed on the agenda for the February 1, 2006 Operations
Committee meeting. The revised policy was presented by the
Director of Human Resources, Valiria Willis and was also
approved by Town Manager Bill Coleman. According to the
revised staff report, the proposal provides more
flexibility and allows some employment opportunities in
local and state government. It allows Town of Cary officials
the authority to rehire retired officers in
temporary/contracted reserve officer or related capacities
when it’s in the best interest of public safety. These
positions would be ones which do not require participation
in the local government retirement system. It also allows
the retired officer the opportunity to work in a position
for another N.C. governmental agency, including as a sworn
officer, as long as the position does not require
participation in the N.C. retirement system.
Council Member
Jennifer Robinson summed it up best when she made
the following statement about the revised policy, “I do
believe that this is an improvement over the last proposed
policy and I think that it is very fair to the police
officers that we have, so I would recommend that we move
this to consent for approval.” The policy was moved as a
consent agenda item by a 3-0 vote by the Operations
Committee. On February 9, 2006, the revised policy was
passed by the Town Council.
The Cary Chapter PBA membership owes a debt of gratitude to
the Council members who supported the policy revisions.
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