ACTION AGAINST OFFICERS 'EXCESSIVE'

The city is close to signing settlement agreements with three police
officers who challenged disciplinary action taken against them almost
two years ago.

Two Coral Gables police officers were returned to their former ranks
- -- one as sergeant and the other as lieutenant -- earlier this month
after an arbitrator found their demotions were unfair.

The missteps could cost the city close to a $250,000.

City Manager David Brown said the city and the police union were
poised to sign agreements that return Sgt. Spencer Green and Lt.
Alexander Roffe -- demoted to patrol officers in 2006 -- to their
respective ranks.

The accords call for back pay for both officers, who were disciplined
for their roles in separate incidents.

Green was demoted for having allegedly taken a Scarface poster, a Bob
Marley T-shirt and other souvenirs from crime scenes. Roffe was
demoted two steps for participating in an illegal narcotics burn on
the Redland property of another officer.

Sgt. Alan Matas, who was suspended for 10 unpaid days for his role in
the same drug burn, will get those 10 days salary restored.

The scandals rocked the department's special investigations section,
which was "temporarily" disbanded in November of 2006. Six
detectives were reassigned to the uniform patrol division, taking a 5
percent pay cut and losing thousands of dollars in overtime.

Green and Roffe appealed the city decision to the Florida Public
Employee Relations Commission and an arbitrator found last month that
the city acted "excessively."

Coral Gables Fraternal Order of Police President Eugene Gibbons could
not be reached for comment last week. But Police Chief Michael
Hammerschmidt confirmed that Green and Roffe had been returned to
their ranks and were on the job.

Brown said, however, that would not be the case long for Green, who
is expected to retire early rather than take the back pay.

"He's gone," Brown said, adding that it was Green's initiative to
leave.

"He asked if there was a way he could go early. This was not our
request. It was their request," Brown said, adding that
Hammerschmidt signed off on the deal.

The police chief would not comment further and referred other
questions to the city attorney. City Attorney Elizabeth Hernandez
said the case was handled by the city's labor attorney, Jim Crosland.
Crosland could not be reached last week.

An arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association found Jan. 23
that the city did not provide enough evidence to support the
allegation of theft against Green and so the demotion was
"excessive."

Brown said that instead of paying Green nearly two years of back pay,
the officer and his attorney asked to have the city pay forward for
about a few months less which, with accrued leave, would get him to
his retirement date of January 2010.

"He doesn't get any raises. He doesn't get any overtime," Brown
said, adding that the city and the union could not agree on the
overtime estimate figure.

"Salary is frozen until he goes out. That's a savings for the
city.

"We thought it was better to accommodate his retirement and swap the
back pay for front pay. Otherwise we would have to put him back,
overtime would be in play, raises would be in play," the manager
said.

In the case of Roffe and Matas, the city settled to save on future
litigation costs from a lawsuit filed by both officers in state
court, Brown said.

"There was potential for appellate action from either party and the
possibility of two arbitrations. That's a lot of money," Brown said.

Roffe will get a portion of his back pay. Brown would not say how
much Roffe received. "That's part of mediation and privileged. But
it's considerably less than he asked for," Brown said.

A source close to the negotiations said it was about $46,000 -- or
half of what the officer sought.