BREAKING NEWS — Friday, Feb. 14, 9 A.M.: The Wilton Police Union announced this morning that contract negotiations with the town have broken down, and talks are now moving to arbitration.
A press release issued by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union on behalf of the Wilton officers said that AFSCME Local 1429 represented the Wilton union in the contract negotiations with the Town of Wilton, which had been ongoing since April 2024. The prior contract ended as of June 30, 2024.
According to the press release, “the Town decided to stop negotiating and declared an impasse” in November 2024. GOOD Morning Wilton has reached out to town officials for corroboration on this, and other assertions made by the union in the press release.
According to the statement, this is the first time in town history that the Wilton Police Union and the Town of Wilton are heading to arbitration.
At issue for the Wilton police union members is a claim that the Wilton Police Department does not offer benefits and equitable working conditions comparable to other towns, something they say impacts officer recruitment and retention.
“Wilton PD has fallen behind in benefits and equitable working conditions, which has resulted in a prolonged shortage of staff, dwindling officer morale and fewer applications. This shortage puts a strain on officers, increases the risk of burnout, and significantly impacts their ability to deliver the level of public safety the community deserves.”
Town officials have long acknowledged that the Wilton Police Department is not at full staff. According to the police union’s statement other towns don’t have the same issue.
“The Union wants to see the Town of Wilton offer benefits comparable to neighboring towns and ensure it is attracting the best candidates of a reduced applicant pool. Neighboring towns, such as Darien, New Canaan, Ridgefield, Westport, Weston, and Norwalk, have experienced staffing shortages, yet have all been able to return to full staff multiple times. On the other hand, Wilton has not been fully staffed in over five years and has struggled to retain several of its newly trained officers, who have since transferred to other neighboring towns.”
Wilton Police Sgt. Frank Razzaia is the president of the Wilton Police Union.
“At a certain point, we had to ask ourselves why candidates and officers alike were choosing to go to other towns over us,” Razzaia said. “So we did a comparison of every police contract in Fairfield County. The results showed that Wilton is behind in many benefits such as time off, work structure, and earning potential.”
The Wilton union asserts that the staffing issues have had a negative impact on several divisions in the police department, such as patrol and investigations.
“The patrol division has been tasked to perform investigative duties, due to a short staffed Detective Bureau, resulting in patrol officers spending more time at headquarters rather than engaging in proactive, community-focused patrols,” the release said.
The release included a statement putting much of the responsibility for the breakdown in talks on First Selectman Toni Boucher.
“Wilton deserves elected leaders who are committed to recruiting the best talent to serve the community and maintain its standing as one of Connecticut’s most desirable and safe towns. While officers continue to work under a contract that expired in June 2024, First Selectwoman Toni Boucher has been unwilling to join in any negotiation talks, in stark contrast to former First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice who worked with the union during successful negotiations in 2021,” the statement said.
“Agreeing to a fair and mutually beneficial contract is essential to attracting, recruiting and retaining qualified officers, to ensure the safety and well-being of the community. First Selectwoman Boucher needs to come to the negotiating table and make good on her public statements about supporting and providing equitable resources for those dedicated to keeping the town and residents of Wilton safe.”
The release noted that no date has been scheduled for arbitration hearings.
GOOD Morning Wilton has reached out to town officials for comment but has not heard back by publication time. GMW will update this article accordingly.
I guess there always has to be a fall guy and this time around it’s Toni Boucher. Isn’t the real reason there is a “shortage” of officers because many high level officers were doing overtime rather than hiring entry level officers. Take a look at the base salaries of the high level officers and the amount of overtime they collected to drive their salaries to 150 to 200 K. Please do an article on all the officers, base pay and overtime pay accrued. Also the new police station that is being built is over the top for this size town.
Heather please publish my previous comment that I wrote.
You know you pushed so hard for a new Police Dept building and arranged guided tours, so everybody would sign a petition to build one. Now Wilton‘s budget is hemorrhaging and all you do is pour gasoline on a fire. You are constantly using any opportunity to attack and diminish the job of the first selectman who is a Republican. You did the same thing with the previous first selectman however, in your article, you acted like you liked Lynne Vanderslice. I think your continued slanted reporting is a major problem.
As is posted on the comment section of every article, it often takes up to 24 hours (and sometimes more) before a comment is approved. Today was a busy news day so your first comment was approved 4 hours after you submitted it. Thanks for your patience.
GMW did not “push so hard” or “arrange guided tours.” That was actually done by the co-chairs of the Police HQ Building committee. GMW did a video tour of the headquarters and interviewed police officers about the HQ conditions.
The job of a free press is to be a public watchdog — to be the eyes and ears for the public so that they know what their officials are doing. We don’t pour gasoline on a fire — we informing residents when there IS a fire. GOOD Morning Wilton is not a mouthpiece for the Town, nor do we make editorial decisions based on town officials’ political affiliation. In fact, we’ve heard from Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliated voters alike who thank us regularly for our fair coverage — including all of today’s stories. Our reporting on this was based on a press release from the police union. If you read the story carefully, it’s clear that the comments about Lynne Vanderslice and Toni Boucher were quotes from the union, and in no way reflect any opinion of anyone at GMW.
There is no need for a fall guy, the leadership is always responsible and accountable for issues that involve the town. I question the sincerity of working to negotiate a contract when the budget they proposed doesn’t include the amount and they are already over a 10% increase.
Changing the budgeting process to presenter better numbers is classic political maneuvering. If we need to spend more money to have the services we require then leaders need to be honest and open as to why. I think the town is losing faith in the First Selectman and the Town Administrator. Thank you Matt Raymondi and Kim Healy for pushing back. New leadership in November.