The Port Arthur Police Association has a brand new contract in place that includes a wage increase and clarification of the way the police chief appoints deputy chiefs.

Officers will see a 2.5 percent increase in wage salary for regular hours of work for both the first and second years of the contract beginning Oct. 1. This increase comes with a cost of about $340,000 annually.

Another change to the contract cleans up language that allows the city manager the final say-so in the appointment of deputy chiefs.

Interim City Manager Harvey Robinson said the chief will make a section of three deputy chiefs and send the selection over to him for final approval. But if Robinson does not agree with a selection, then he may veto it.

“This is not new but clarifies the language,” Robinson said. “This has always been the practice anyway.”

Lt. Reid Rowe, who is the associations’ vice-president, said the association has agreed to the contract and the changes made within it.

Contract negotiations between the city of Port Arthur and PAPA began on March 1 and concluded recently.

This set of negotiations and contract came about easier than the previous one. Two years ago under a different city manager a typographical error led to contention between the two entities.

The contention all began with what the PAPA said was a typographical error in the end date of a contract and that the association was in an evergreen period while the city contended the contract was officially ended and there was no one-year evergreen period.

Evergreen refers to a collective bargaining agreement that automatically extends a contract for a set period of time if a new contract is not initiated.

The issue at hand was that the earlier contract between the city and police union ended Sept. 30, 2015, and the evergreen date was supposed to read Sept. 30, 2016, not 2015, PAPA contended.

Then city manager Brian McDougal did not believe there was a typo and that the contract was over.

In an effort to prove the date was a typo, an attorney with the PAPA called upon Albert Thigpen, former human resources director, and John Comeaux, who previously served as assistant city manager and interim city manager. In a taped deposition dated Nov. 19, 2015, Thigpen stated that, as a chief negotiator with the city at the time, he believed the date should have read 2016 and an evergreen clause should have carried over until Sept. 30, 2016.

Likewise, Comeaux, in a taped deposition also dated Nov. 19, 2015, stated he believed the two parties were in an evergreen period between Sept. 30, 2014, and Sept. 30, 2015, and that evergreen should have carried over to Sept. 30, 2016.

A contract resolution was eventually made between the city and association.