SACRAMENTO, CA &#8211 In the the wake of the City Council’s 5-4 vote Tuesday blocking the strong mayor initiative from going to the November ballot, police union leaders halted labor contract discussions with City Hall.

Mark Tyndale, president of the Sacramento Police Officers Association told City Manager John Shirey in an email just hours after the final council vote that he was “suspending all discussions between the city and the SPOA negotiations team.”

After voting down the strong mayor initiative, council members approved a ballot measure to create an elected 15-member charter reform commission.

Calling the cost of a charter commission “fiscally irresponsible,” Tyndale said in the email that he “can’t help but feel this was nothing but a tactic by some of them to once again publically (sic) display their contempt for the Mayor.”

Although the SPOA had engaged with city labor representatives in a series of “off the record” discussions, Tyndale said in the email, the council’s decision to create a charter commission caused him to reevaluate his position.

“I refuse to consider further concessions that will only be used to fund the Commission,” Tyndale said.

The cost of a charter commission is largely unknown, according to the City Clerk’s office. In a staff report to council Tuesday, a portion of the cost – the cost of putting the question to the voters of rather to create a commission – was estimated at more than $127,000.

Assistant City Attorney Matt Ruyak said Tuesday that the additional costs of staffing and maintaining a commission – beyond the cost of the election alone – were unknown at this early stage.

Tyndale asked Shirey and City Finance Director Leyne Milstein for a written estimate of the costs to the city for an elected charter review commission.

Neither Tyndale nor Shirey were available for comment at press time for this story. The Sacramento Press will give updates on the situation as they become available.

From The Sacramento Press.