BAY CITY -- Things may look a little different the next time you drive around Bay City. You are likely to see any one of three billboards posted by the local Fraternal Order of Police, the union representing city patrol officers.
The billboards, like the one at the corner of Euclid Ave. and Fisher St. for example, blast city leaders for choosing to replace the 100+ year-old roof on city hall, instead of fighting to keep 5 police officers recently laid off.
The signs say, “city hall’s roof will not stop you from getting beaten, shot, stabbed or robbed. 5 laid off cops could have.”
“We feel that the general population is unaware of what we’re going through, how short we are out on the road,” said union member and police officer Don Aldrich. “I believe that the primary responsibility of government is to provide for the safety of life and property,” he said.
Some in city hall tell NBC25 the billboards can potentially misrepresent the issue, leading residents to think the entire city commission voted to replace the roof (costing $1.6 million) instead of keeping the officers on the force.
Aldrich acknowledged two commissioners and Mayor Charles Brunner tried to prevent the layoffs, but were unsuccessful. Brunner said he vetoed the original decision on the roof, in the name of public safety.
“We’re at what I consider to be absolute minimum levels and we can’t go any lower and this is the police department’s response,” Brunner said, speaking of the billboards.
Aldrich said the union will continue to negotiate with the city all the way up through August 31, the last day laid off city workers have to work out their differences or permanently lose their jobs. The union is scheduled to go into arbitration later this summer, which could be an added expense for the financially strapped city.
Commissioners worked all year to trim a $1.6 million deficit in the current budget, which took effect on July 1. Sources in city hall tell NBC25 the deficit is from declining property tax revenues, not the actual roof purchase. One commissioner told NBC25 the city had a separate savings account in place for several years to pay for repairs.
