By Travis Gettys
Enquirer contributor

NEWPORT - Six veteran police officers will retire over the next several months, only to be rehired to five-year contracts under a plan approved 4-1 Monday by city commissioners.

Police Chief Tom Fromme and Lt. Col. Robert McCray will retire Aug. 1 - activating their pension benefits - and will return to their posts a month later, Sept. 1. Four other officers who qualify for retirement will do so later this year to avoid a shortage of command officers.

The decision comes a week after the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet moved to stop the practice known as double-dipping - employees retiring from a job and returning to collect a salary and pension.

City Manager Phil Ciafardini said the plan was introduced to keep experienced officers from retiring and then returning to work for other police departments, which is common across the state.

"We get not only a stability-of-management benefit and a tremendous benefit to the taxpayers, but we also retain an experienced officer who knows (our) system," Ciafardini said.

The plan would save the city $700,000 over the next five years, Fromme told commissioners, because the retirees will see their pay reduced and the city will no longer be responsible for paying 80 percent of their insurance premium, which will be paid by the state.

"The portion the city pays ranges from $3,000 to $8,400 per year," said Chief Financial Officer Greg Engelman.

Fromme will return to his position, which includes assistant city manager duties, at a yearly salary of $82,900, Ciafardini said, down from $90,437. City commissioners will continue to vote on any pay raise for the police chief, who is a non-union city employee.

McCray will continue to oversee code enforcement, public works and parks and recreation, but his salary will drop from $79,747 to $59,803.

McCray and the other four officers, who make between $65,000 and $71,000 and will also return with reduced pay, must work part time their first six months back on the job and their contractually mandated yearly raises will be fixed at 2 percent, Engelman said.

Returning officers also would have their vacation and sick time reduced, Ciafardini said.

The first-year salaries are misleading, said City Commissioner Jerry Peluso, because the officers will not be working full time and, in the second year, salaries will revert to what officers made before their retirement.

Peluso said he was the only city commissioner to vote against the measure because he worries that younger officers might leave the force if they believe opportunities for advancement are scarce.

After their initial five-year contracts expire, retired officers may work on a year-to-year basis with the chief's recommendation, Peluso said.

Maintaining continuity is important, Fromme said, because the city reorganized many city departments - like those commanded by McCray - under police supervision to save money, so most command officers have additional responsibilities.

"This is really just a way of retaining officers and keeping those guys with a lot of experience," Fromme said.

"A lot of guys under me could be chief (in another city)," he added.

The city needs time to develop younger officers for command positions, Ciafardini said, because of a shortage of mid-level police officers.

"There's a gap between the patrol rank and command staff," Ciafardini said.

Officials should have been better prepared for officers' impending retirement, said Jeff Ballard, a candidate in November's City Commission race.

Ballard said city commissioners held a lengthy, closed-door executive session, which they may do to discuss personnel and other matters, but most of the public had gone home before they voted.

"This doesn't pass the sniff-test," Ballard said. "There was a reason the vote was taken late at night, in empty chambers and without public input or debate."

Fromme said the only potential downside to the plan was public perception.

"I don't get a dime more over the period of my life than I would anyway," Fromme said. "I'm getting the same benefits, just earlier."