The Sweet Home City Council on a 6-0 vote approved a three-year collective bargaining agreement with the Sweet Home Police Employees Association and a companion memorandum of understanding that preserves certain existing education-based incentive pay for current employees.

City staff presented the agreement as a multi-year package that provides wage increases, updates incentive payments and includes a reopener clause should police sergeants seek to join the bargaining unit. Staff told council the contract would run through June 30, 2028, and that the package was budgeted within current fiscal plans.

Under the contract, wage increases are scheduled at 5 percent in the first year, then 4 percent and 4 percent in the subsequent years. The agreement also adds a 1 percent residency incentive aimed at encouraging officers to live inside city limits and adjusts incentives tied to DPSST certifications. Staff described the memorandum of understanding as a grandfathering arrangement: employees currently receiving education incentive pay will continue to receive that incentive until DPSST or other revised incentives in the new contract exceed their current payments.

Councilors praised the police and staff for completing the negotiations before the end of the fiscal year and for keeping recommendations within the budget. Council recorded the vote as six ayes and no nays.

The council packet presented three options for the contract; staff recommended approval of the agreement and recommended approving the MOU as presented. No amendments to the contract or MOU were recorded during the meeting.

Planning and implementation tasks described by staff include administrative updates for payroll and finance should the new contract be implemented retroactively if delayed; staff indicated that completing the contract before the current contract’s expiration would reduce administrative burdens on finance.

No public comment or formal motions to amend the contract were recorded. The council approved both the collective bargaining agreement and the MOU on unanimous votes and directed staff to implement the terms as written.