As reported by NJ.com, as Hightstown considers outsourcing its police department to East Windsor, the Council is set to vote on a new police union agreement tonight.  The council vote would ratify the memorandum of agreement with the police officers and execute a collective bargaining agreement for 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.  A separate ordinance is on the council’s agenda to amend their salaries.

A formal contract cannot be signed until the salary ordinance is adopted and the agreement passed, Mayor Larry Quattrone said. With the new police union agreement vote scheduled, closed-door talks between Hightstown and East Windsor remain ongoing as officials consider merging police forces under a shared services agreement.

In 2010, the Council approved a five-year contract for its officers and quashed the idea of disbanding Hightstown’s force while expanding East Windsor’s and charging it with patrolling the one-square-mile borough.  Negotiations had progressed to the point where lawyers had begun drawing up draft contracts.  Former Mayor Bob Patten said at the time it was “in the best interest of Hightstown to keep” its police. But this year, the future of the police department appears to be on dual paths as officials consider the union contract while contemplating the outsourcing.

Please continue to check this blog periodically to ascertain updates for not only the collective bargaining agreement, but the possible shared services agreement as well.

 

Tags: consolidation, East Windsor, Hightstown, NJ Police, NJ Public Safety Officers, shared services
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Photo of Donald C. Barbati Donald C. Barbati

Donald C. Barbati is a shareholder of Crivelli, Barbati & DeRose, L.L.C. His primary practice revolves around the representation of numerous public employee labor unions in various capacities to include contract negotiation, unfair labor practice litigation, contract grievance arbitration, and other diverse issues…

Donald C. Barbati is a shareholder of Crivelli, Barbati & DeRose, L.L.C. His primary practice revolves around the representation of numerous public employee labor unions in various capacities to include contract negotiation, unfair labor practice litigation, contract grievance arbitration, and other diverse issues litigated before the courts and administrative tribunals throughout the State of New Jersey. In addition, Mr. Barbati also routinely represents individuals in various types of public pension appeals, real estate transactions, and general litigation matters. He is a frequent contributor to the New Jersey Public Safety Officers Law Blog, a free legal publication designed to keep New Jersey public safety officers up-to-date and informed about legal issues pertinent to their profession. During his years of practice, Mr. Barbati has established a reputation for achieving favorable results for his clients in a cost-efficient manner.

Mr. Barbati has also handled numerous novel legal issues while representing New Jersey Public Safety Officers. Most notably, he served as lead counsel for the Appellants in the published case In re Rodriguez, 423 N.J. Super. 440 (App. Div. 2011). In that case, Mr. Barbati successfully argued on behalf of the Appellants, thereby overturning the Attorney General’s denial of counsel to two prison guards in a civil rights suit arising from an inmate assault. In the process, the Court clarified the standard to be utilized by the Attorney General in assessing whether a public employee is entitled to legal representation and mandated that reliance must be placed on up-to-date information.

Prior to becoming a practicing attorney, Mr. Barbati served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Linda R. Feinberg, Assignment Judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Mercer Vicinage. During his clerkship Mr. Barbati handled numerous complex and novel substantive and procedural issues arising from complaints in lieu of prerogative writs, orders to show cause, and motion practice. These include appeals from decisions by planning and zoning boards and local government bodies, bidding challenges under the Local Public Contract Law, Open Public Records Act requests, the taking of private property under the eminent domain statute, and election law disputes. In addition, Mr. Barbati, as a certified mediator, mediated many small claims disputes in the Special Civil Part.

Mr. Barbati received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history, magna cum laude, from Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Upon graduating, Mr. Barbati attended Widener University School of Law in Wilmington, Delaware. In 2007, he received his juris doctorate, magna cum laude, graduating in the top five percent of his class. During law school, Mr. Barbati interned for the Honorable Joseph E. Irenas, Senior United States District Court Judge for the District of New Jersey in Camden, New Jersey, assisting on various constitutional, employment, and Third Circuit Court of Appeals litigation, including numerous civil rights, social security, and immigration cases.

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