Unlimited is not unlimited - out 3 days in a row or after 4th call in (could be total of 4 days) - all call ins after taht must be verifed by medical staff.

the earned sick leave payout is restricted and it is nowhere near the perk it used to be.  Not perfect but a vast improvement.

Quoted from visitor

Unlimited is not unlimited - out 3 days in a row or after 4th call in (could be total of 4 days) - all call ins after taht must be verifed by medical staff.

the earned sick leave payout is restricted and it is nowhere near the perk it used to be.  Not perfect but a vast improvement.

For the one that accrues, how many sick hours accrue each week worked?

police must have mental health days....one reason I am not a police officer

Quoted from senders

police must have mental health days....one reason I am not a police officer

That's what vacation is for. The city workers as a whole accrue sick time at an alarming rate that is banked and cashed out later.  Wonder if it is even on the balance sheet of the city?  If I remember correctly Polster.for example was accruing 1 day every 2 weeks.  May be a little off.

TiB

It's either 15 days / year and after 15 years - it's 18 days /year.  

Quoted from visitor

TiB

It's either 15 days / year and after 15 years - it's 18 days /year.  

3 weeks a year accruing is 5% of the work year.  Essentially a 5% retirement perk.  Combined with 100% paid health and dental.....life is good!

3 weeks per year - that is not what they can cash in Max is about 30 days. New hores pay into retirment, so, I would assume that is where that will be directed.

It's 15 days earned per year - they cannot cash all that in if they saved it up, just 30 days.

Is there a copy of their contract that is public.

Quoted from TakingItBack

That's what vacation is for. The city workers as a whole accrue sick time at an alarming rate that is banked and cashed out later.  Wonder if it is even on the balance sheet of the city?  If I remember correctly Polster.for example was accruing 1 day every 2 weeks.  May be a little off.

agree

Quoted from TakingItBack

Is there a copy of their contract that is public.

tried to get it on the net...last I checked it was 2 years old

2 year old contract is still good.  They don't go year to year - this one expires in 2014

Quoted from visitor

2 year old contract is still good.  They don't go year to year - this one expires in 2014

gotcha...thanks

Quoted Text

SCHENECTADY
Chaires reflects on decisions, bad cops, crime
Retiring chief eyes Hamilton Hill, doctorate
BY DAVID LOMBARDO Gazette Reporter

    Retiring Schenectady Police Chief Mark Chaires always thought twice about any major decisions.
    On Saturday afternoon, his disheveled and nearly empty second-fl oor office in the department headquarters on Liberty Street indicated no second guessing about the decision to end his four-year tenure as chief.
    “People would laugh, but as stubborn and driven as I can seem sometimes, I don’t think there are many people who second guess themselves more than me,” he said during a break from paperwork and packing the fi nal personal items in his office. He is to leave that offi cially today.
    “I think what gave me the most confi dence when I first took this job [in 2008] was knowing what I had in this organization,” Chaires said. “I knew the personnel I had to work with and I understood law enforcement.”
    He succeeded Chief Michael N. Geraci Sr. and was appointed by Mayor Brian U. Stratton, who chose among fi ve candidates.
    Chaires’ focus was on crime reduction, the department’s core mission, when he was elevated from assistant chief to the top spot; he didn’t plan on staying for more than five years. He started with the department in 1988, following his father, Arthur Chaires, the city’s first black police offi cer.
    Becoming a relatively young chief, Chaires, now 57, said it was initially a bit of a surprise to learn how decisions were really made. There wasn’t the total authority he had anticipated.
    He quickly adapted to the structure and came to rely on his subordinates, a practice that became easier as he gained more confi - dence in the job. “I was very fortunate to be able to hand things off,” Chaires said. “As a chief you can’t do anything by yourself.”
    His command structure was essential to implementing what he said were two of the department’s major successes: a reorganization with a focus on supervision and creating a case management system. The supervision, created by the restructuring, ensured that offi cers, especially young or struggling officers, received the guidance and support to potentially thrive in the department. The case management system, which was the fi rst formal one of its kind in the department, allowed for assignments to be evenly doled out and to track the status of investigations.
    He was also pleased with the way the department came to rely more on statistical data for its police work and a renewed emphasis on “customer service.”
LEAN YEARS
    Chaires argued that the department is heading in a positive direction and feels like more could have been accomplished under his watch if resources hadn’t been so tight in the city. “We’ve been short-staffed over the last couple of years,” he said, noting a rash of retirements and budget cuts.
    The staffing issues have made it harder to focus on community policing, as the signifi cant volume of calls for help have to come fi rst. “It’s tough to do a foot patrol,” he said, “if you’re going to get called off it for a hot call.”
    As for regrets — he termed himself a “hothead” — he said he wished he had chosen his words more carefully in public a few times when he was upset and had been more organized in his daily scheduling.
    His hardest decisions were always when to fire or discipline someone. Chaires actively tried to weed out the “handful of bad apples” in the department, but said it was always very diffi cult to take away a job in the department, which he described as “heck of a job” because of the health benefi ts and pension.
    Looking back at the terminations under his watch, he said it was a mix of people who weren’t cut out for policing or were simply good cops that made one bad mistake that couldn’t be forgiven.
    Under his tenure the department arrested or disciplined several officers for off-duty acts, like drunken driving, and on-duty acts, including moonlighting at a second job on police time.
LOOKING AHEAD
    In the next chapter of his life, Chaires hopes to slow down, but not by much.
    He will soon be completing his doctorate in criminal justice from the University at Albany, plans on spending more time with his family and five grandchildren and will almost immediately become the executive director of the Hamilton Hill Arts Center. After the center, where he plans on serving in an interim capacity, Chaires is hoping to use his doctorate to teach college courses.
    The arts center title was not something he had planned on, even though he has been a board member for a handful of years and has ties that stretch back to his teens. After leaving high school he got a part-time job teaching fi lmmaking, at which he was only slightly better than his pupils. Later on his daughters were involved at the center.
    “It was a nice safe haven and an oasis for kids to stay out of trouble,” he said of his memories of the center as a teen and then as a young parent.
    In taking over the center, Chaires is planning to tinker with its core mission. The new focus will be on visual arts, music, dance and English language arts.
    The center and youth programs supported by the police department, like Pop Warner football and a tennis program, are key ways, he said, to stop crime. Chaires is hoping the center will be more than just a crime deterrent, though, as he said a focus on English language arts might help elevate the chronically low scores in the city school district. .............................>>>>...............................>>>>..............................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00900&AppName=1

Quoted Text

The center and youth programs supported by the police department, like Pop Warner football and a tennis program, are key ways, he said, to stop crime. Chaires is hoping the center will be more than just a crime deterrent, though, as he said a focus on English language arts might help elevate the chronically low scores in the city school district. ...

"....and, if you girls are looking for a great career, I know where you can apply."

the oncologist and the undertaker....

just, giving the view of the public overall, not accusing Chaires of anything......

Quoted from visitor

Mayor says public won't notice a difference because he has a poor grasp of what the Chief's responsibilities are. He thinks Chief's main job is to stand next to him at press events.  
He's quick to point fingers re: how the police need to do more to raise parking revenues but MIA when it comes to admitting his own role in the City's financial crisis. police didn't buy parking garage, a
30 million dollar building on Van Vranken, etc.  

EXACTLY! The problem is, has been, continues to be sitting in City Hall. Zero leadership. DEM morons padding their bloated pension with no military, no business experience and no management expertise. Anywhere else citizens would go on a nationwide search for a new Mayor. Plenty of good cops who demand some support from these political idiots. BTW, not one penny of principle has been repaid on McCheeses's Folly on Foster Avenue. With interest it will cost City property owners over $45 MILLION.