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At a meeting of the rank and file this morning, Brookfield police reportedly voted 14-10 to approve a new contract with the village, averting layoffs that were to take effect tomorrow.


The vote came in the wake of a six-hour negotiating session between the two sides yesterday with the help of an independent labor mediator. According to Village Manager Riccardo Ginex the two sides walked away from the table at Tuesday.


The one-year deal, which will end Dec. 31, imposes a wage freeze and step increase freeze on police officers. Three officers who received step raises at the beginning of the year will have those increases rescinded starting April 3, Ginex said. The total amount paid to those officers for the step increases in the past three months was $2,500, he added.


The police union also agreed to not increase the amount paid out to veteran officers as a seniority stipend prior to their retirement.


The village agreed to a slight modification in the contract language regarding vacation time. Previously, police received vacation time in years one (two weeks), five (three weeks), 12 (four weeks) and 20 (five weeks). According to the new contract, police will receive four weeks of vacation at year 10. At year 21, they will receive five weeks plus one day. At 25 years, they receive five weeks plus two days.


“This issue for us is that one or two days are not as bad as an extra day for every year,” Ginex said.


Except for the concession on vacation time, the contract is essentially the one the village offered police in January, Ginex said.


The contract still needs the approval of the village board, which meets next on April 12. The layoff notices to the two officers who would have been affected have been extended to April 13, Ginex said.


“When the board agrees, the layoffs will be rescinded,” Ginex said.


A call to Andy Lowry, one of three Brookfield police officers representing the union in negotiations, was not immediately returned.


The village’s final task will be agreeing to a deal with police dispatchers, who operate under a separate bargaining unit, but who often take their negotiating cues from police officers.


“Hopefully, we’ll be able to wrap it up in a couple of hours,” Ginex said.


The village will start negotiations on new contracts with police officers and firefighters in the fall for the 2011 fiscal year.