LOS ANGELES — The San Bernardino Police Officer's Association has decided not to ask the bankruptcy judge to set a deadline for the city to file a plan of adjustment.
The SBPOA filing came Monday, ahead of a July 10 afternoon status hearing in Riverside on the San Bernardino Chapter 9 case before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Meredith Jury.
The city has been engaged in confidential mediation with creditors before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Gregg Zive since Nov. 24.
Attorneys for the city and the California Public Employees' Retirement system announced on June 19 they had reached a settlement agreement.
The pension fund has been the city's most combative creditor and had taken center stage in the mediation, according to the little Zive has allowed the participants to say about the mediation process.
As a result, the city employee unions and bondholders have been waiting in the wings a bit.
The unions are now making themselves heard.
SBPOA attorney Ron Oliner wrote in his filing that "because the city's attorneys have urged it, the SBPOA will not, at this time, press further for entry of an order fixing a date by which the Plan of Adjustment must be filed."
Oliner did, however, request that the court set deadlines on the motions made by the police union and enter a scheduling order to conduct evidentiary hearings.
The police union has "devoted its time and effort toward a consensual resolution" of its issues with the city, but Oliner also indicated growing impatience with the drawn-out process.
"When the city unilaterally imposed certain unprecedented and draconian cuts on members of the SBPOA, after a perfunctory 'check the box,' mediation before The Honorable Scott C. Clarkson - also known as 'surface bargaining' in the parlance of labor lawyers - the SBPOA had no choice but to file a motion for relief from stay," Oliner wrote
In addition to filing a massive opposition to the SBPOA's motion for relief from stay, the city responded with its own motion to reject the SBPOA's collective bargaining agreement.
It was at that point that Judge Jury asked all the participants to engage in a judicially supervised mediation with Zive.
During a July 19 status hearing, Jury released the San Bernardino firefighters union from mediation.
Attorneys for the firefighters union claimed the confidential nature of the meditation was preventing them from protecting employees in ongoing budget negotiations, according to a court filing.
The confrontations between the city and CalPERS and between the city and its unions have pushed creditors for $50 million in pension obligation bonds into the background.
Attorneys for the bondholders have been fairly quiet since the meditation process began on Nov. 24.
The city hasn't made payments on its pension obligation bonds since it filed bankruptcy in August 1, 2012, according to filings on the Municipal Utilities Rulemaking Board's EMMA website.
