Memphis Police Director Michael Rallings and one other employee will be allowed to delay their retirements, thanks to a City Council vote Tuesday.
The council unanimously approved an ordinance allowing senior members of Mayor Jim Strickland’s administration to freeze their participation in the Deferred Retirement Option Program for three years, although only two employees are enrolled in the DROP: Rallings and Chief of Staff Lisa Geater.
Both are expected to agree to the freeze, allowing them to serve through the rest of Strickland’s first term. Rallings is currently set to retire in 2018.
The ordinance originally would have allowed up to 199 employees to freeze their participation in the DROP, but the ordinance was restricted because of concerns that too many freezes would hinder planned police promotions.
Employee unions say they’re looking into the legality of the ordinance, which says exceptions to the DROP shouldn’t be made for individual employees.
“We want it to work the way it’s supposed to work,” Essica Littlejohn, vice president of the Memphis Police Association, said of the existing DROP ordinance.