There’s been a change in leadership for the Sarnia Police Association.
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Acting Staff Sgt. Miro Soucek, president of the 200-member association since 2013, said he announced in May he was stepping down.
Sgt. Gavin Armstrong, a long-time association vice-president, was recently acclaimed president, Soucek said.
“He was fantastic,” Soucek said of Armstrong as vice president. “And he has the skills required to do the job.”
Soucek said it was a difficult decision to step down, as he’s long been an advocate in the workplace. But, he said, he found he couldn’t effectively continue in the role and manage time as head instructor at Bluewater Taekwondo.
It was time for a change, said Soucek, noting he was also a union representative at Ford Motor company in St. Thomas for seven years before his time with Sarnia police, where he was on the association board since 2010.
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“I felt like it was time to move on from labor and to do other things,” he said.
Armstrong, who was association vice-president for 10 years, then took a break from the board for the past two, said he stepped up so the association could have someone with experience in the role.
“I’m coming up to almost 29 years on the job, and I spent probably well over 20 of them on the board,” he said.
Many members on the 11-member association board are new, he said.
“Which is great to get some new people involved.”
Negotiations are ongoing with the Sarnia police service board for a new contract, he said, adding “they seem to be going well at this point.
“It’s just getting everyone up to speed.”
The association’s contract was extended in March for another year, until the end of 2024, amid prolonged negotiations with the Sarnia police service board.
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Police negotiations have been underway since May 2023.
Board chair Paul Wiersma in March noted a lot of work had been invested into modernizing “a very old agreement.”
Recently announced plans for mediation have been scrapped amid the association board change, he said Saturday.
“You have almost a brand new board elected (and) there was an interest on their part to negotiate,” he said, adding the sides are closed, and he’s hopeful to see an agreement before the end of the year.
“With these things, you can be 99 per cent of the way there, and it’s that last per cent that’s always the sticking one,” he said.
This story has been updated to include comments from Paul Wiersma.
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