Lockport Common Council members say they had no choice but to approve the terms of a new collective bargaining agreement that will strain the city’s finances.
Aldermen say they were first provided information on the terms negotiated with the Hickory Club Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association at a work session on July 16, one week before they were expected to vote on it. Kathryn Fogle, 4th Ward alderman and council president, 5th Ward Alderman Maggie Lupo said the agreement represents a 9% increase in the city’s police compensation.
Aldermen said David Blackley, corporation counsel, told them that if they didn’t approve the agreement, the city would be taken to arbitration and lose. Mayor John Lombardi III, who negotiated the contract, did not attend the July 16 work session.
Fogle, Lupo, and 1st Ward Alderman John Craig say neither the council nor the city’s finance director Dan Cavallari were provided information during the negotiation of the memorandum of agreement (MOA) that was signed by Lombardi on July 8. A signed MOA is a binding document even before a labor contract is drawn.
The council approved the agreement in a 5-1 vote on July 23, with Fogle opposing. The city’s previous police contract expired in 2023.
Police Chief Steven Abbott, who is not a member of Hickory Club and has his own employment agreement with the city, negotiated on Hickory Club’s behalf and his stance was that the Lockport Police Department is losing officers due to it paying some of the lowest salaries among cities in the area.
Aldermen say only the mayor and Blackley represented the city in the labor negotiations, with no updates provided to the council, which controls the city’s spending. Neither Lombardi nor Blackley responded to a request for comment about their roles in the negotiations, and whether they obtained and used budget projections to determine how the city could finance the terms of the agreement.
“We were just handed the final agreement and that’s no way to do business in today’s marketplace,” said Craig, who chairs the council’s finance committee. “It was kind of like, if we don’t support it, it’ll go to arbitration and we’ll probably lose. In general, we need to do a better job negotiating contracts and not have just meetings with the attorney and the mayor.”
Abbott said authorities advise against including council members in labor negotiations because as elected officials, making concessions could be viewed as an effort to gain votes.
Language in the agreement required the mayor to have the matter placed on the agenda of the July 23 Common Council meeting, and stated “all new terms and conditions shall be implemented in the first full pay period of August 2025.”
Lupo said Blackley never presented a union negotiation update to the council.
“They said, ‘This is a signed MOA. There are no throwaways. You approve it or this goes to arbitration.’ and we were stunned,” Lupo said. “They always make it the last minute.”
Fogle said Cavallari, the finance director, was also left uninformed.
“He didn’t know until after the MOA was signed,” Fogle said. “We were in the meeting and he said, ‘We can’t keep doing this. Somebody has to learn to say no around here.’ ” Lupo also said that Cavallari first saw the finances in the agreement at the same time as the council.
Asked by the Union-Sun & Journal last week when he learned of the costs of the agreement, Cavallari said, “I will not be answering that.”
2nd Ward Alderman Anita Mullane said, “Dan Cavallari should have been involved from day one.” Referring to the New York Conference of Mayors, a good government group, Mullane said, “The mayor was in his rights to (negotiate), that’s what NYCOM told us. This mayor seems to hand everyone everything they want without regard for how to pay for it, because that falls on us.”
Asked why Blackley, who served as the city’s labor counsel in a previous Republican administration, did not facilitate an agreement more in keeping with the city’s finances, Craig said it should have been handled differently.
“He’s the attorney but he’s not the finance guy,” Craig said. “There should have been more insight on having a finance director in there and that didn’t happen.”
Aldermen continue to emphasize that they want to support police officers and reduce turnover from low pay, but it needs to be done within the city’s budget.
Last month, 3rd Ward Alderman Mark Devine, who’s a staunch supporter of the police and fire departments, said, “This police contract, it’s going to cost the city money. We’re still needing to pinch our pennies, so to speak.”
“What I didn’t like were all the other add-ins,” Lupo said, referring to an education stipend, shortened steps to a top salary, and a 3% cost of living allowance compared to other employees getting 2%.
“We were never really allowed to give parameters, or benchmarks, or what we really thought.”
Fogle recalled her reaction when Blackley told the council they would be sued if they didn’t approve the agreement.
“I’ve heard it a million times before,” she said. “It’s a scare tactic, every union does it.”
Among the six aldermen, Fogle cast the only vote against approving the Hickory Club agreement. Explanations for why at least one other council member didn’t vote in opposition seemed to indicate that the pressure tactics worked.
“I felt like it would have cost more if it went to arbitration,” Lupo said.
“It was a moot point for me,” Craig said of the nearly done deal.
Mullane said she did not see the costs as insurmountable and was in favor of increasing compensation for the police officers.
Cavallari would not discuss how the city is planning to finance the amount. Asked whether there would be a tax increase in FY 2026, he said, “That is definitely one of the options as contracts are negotiated. Toward the end of August, we’ll have a better idea of numbers.”