County Attorney Molly Hicken shared information on a dispute between the county and the union representing Cook County’s non-administrative sheriff deputies at the March 10 county board meeting.
Hicken said the Law Enforcement Labor Services (LELS) labor union had presented a grievance to the Cook County board asking them to reconsider whether it was correct to include all of the time an employee has worked for the county when computing seniority under the current labor agreement.
Hicken said a Step 1 grievance was presented to Sheriff Pat Eliasen, who denied it. A Step 2 grievance was then presented to Hicken and she said, “I also denied it.”
The third step in the process is to have the county board give its opinion in the matter. Hicken said the board had three options: 1) Agree to the union’s interpretation regarding the seniority language and re-calculate seniority dates for former Chief Deputies Leif Lunde and Ben Hallberg; 2) Agree with the county’s interpretation regarding the seniority language and maintain the current seniority dates and rankings or 3) Ask the union to mutually agree to submit the matter for mediation by the Bureau of Mediation, the agency that handles labor relations issues for public employment and unions in Minnesota.
There is no cost to the county or union for this third option, but if the matter couldn’t be resolved the union can either drop the matter or take it to the state arbitrator for a decision. If it goes that far the county and the union would split the arbitrator’s time and travel cost 50/50.
Union attorney Kim Sobieck said there was a 4-2 vote to remove Lunde’s seniority time because he was on leave of absence while serving as chief deputy and acting sheriff. Lunde was Mark Falk’s chief deputy for nine years and then served six months as acting sheriff. The union also voted 4-2 to remove the seniority time Hallberg spent as chief deputy under Acting Sheriff Lunde, which was six months.
She also said that if the language of the labor agreement was to be taken literally, then Lunde and Hallberg would have been considered hired by the county on January 1, 2015, when they returned back to work as deputies.
Commissioner Frank Moe asked Lunde when he had last filled out a job application with the county. Lunde replied that he filled out a job application only once, in 1998 when the county first hired him.
Lunde has been employed for over 16 years in the department, including the time spent on the leave of absence to work as chief deputy and as acting sheriff. Hallberg has been employed more than 10 years, with the six month leave of absence to work under Lunde. When the two returned to regular duty the county credited them with all of the combined time served, said part-time Acting Personnel Director Janet Simonen.
“This is the way that we have always handled cases like this,” said Simonen. She pointed to current Sheriff Pat Eliasen, who was chief deputy sheriff for two years then went back to being a deputy. The union credited Pat with his time served in administration when he returned to the deputy pool.
Asked why the union would vote to give Eliasen back his time and not Lunde’s and Hallberg’s, Sobieck said she didn’t know. But she added that it was a vote, and the union could have just as easily voted the other way.
The union’s attorney Sobieck said that giving back time to Lunde and Hallberg impacts seniority which could have a negative effect on the other four deputies and may impact the eligibility of other deputies to work overtime and receive time off when requested.
The union stressed that the time Lunde and Hallberg spent outside of the union shouldn’t be counted in their years of service to the county.
Minnesota Statutes seem to cover Lunde and Hallberg’s situation, said Hicken, who pointed to the state’s reinstatement of an employee following leave of absence: “Upon reinstatement, the officer or employee shall have the same rights with respect to accrued and future seniority status, efficiency rating, vacation, insurance benefits, sick leave, and other benefits as if actually employed during the time of the leave.”
Local Law Enforcement Union Steward Darcy Ziller explained why the four deputies were right in denying Lunde’s and Hallberg’s time spent in administration. Ziller said the four deputies have sacrificed weekends, nights, holidays, and missed Christmas dinners and family gatherings and she added, “with high seniority you can get Christmas off. Really, because it is such a small department there is really no promotion. Nowhere for them to go. Their sacrifices should be honored.”
Ziller also said administrators worked more normal hours and could schedule holidays and family gatherings off.
Lunde countered, saying, “I agree deputies make tremendous sacrifices, but administrators make great sacrifices too. I didn’t choose to miss my 20th wedding anniversary or choose to spend a week looking for Paul Brandt or choose to spend three straight weeks on the Ham Lake fire. To say that the deputies should be rewarded for their sacrifices, I would agree. But to say that administrators don’t make sacrifices, I don’t agree with that. They make different sacrifices.”
The board agreed to deny option 3 and after some discussion granted Lunde and Hallberg the total time they have spent working for the Cook County Sheriff ’s Department.
Commissioner Frank Moe said he would like to see the county board meet with the union and iron out their differences. Simonen agreed that was a good step and said that grievances often lead to action that corrects problems in contracts.
YMCA floor payment
County Attorney Hicken told commissioners that JLG Architects had agreed to pay $12,000 towards the expense incurred to fix the Cook County Community YMCA locker room floor, but she didn’t think it was wise for the board to sign an agreement eliminating the county’s right to pursue legal remedies against JLG if something else is found wrong at a later date.
Because of an apparent design flaw, water pooled on the locker room floors, with water flowing under the wall into a closet that adjoins the men’s locker room. County Plumbing & Heating of Lutsen fixed the problem by installing several trench drains. The county picked up $5,740 of the bill.
The board authorized Hicken to inform JLG that it wants the contract reworded so it would allow the county some recourse in the event of future problems that could be directly attributed to JLG’s design work. Hicken agreed to draft another letter. Should an agreement between the two parties not be reached, Cook County could be stuck paying the $12,000 bill.
In other business
. Sheriff Pat Eliasen came before the county board on March 9 to discuss a two-year grant that will aid his department in water rescues and searches.
Eliasen said the sheriff’s department was awarded a two-year boat & water grant of $13,321 from the State of Minnesota to help alleviate the cost of water-related patrol or other water related activities.
. Brian Silence, maintenance director, was authorized to gets bids on office furniture for the new law library and the LEC. Cost wasn’t discussed.
. The Hovland Volunteer Fire Department was given a 10-year no interest loan of up to $60,000 to purchase a water tender truck.
. Four new members—Grand Marais City Councilor David Mills, Mark Luttinen, Steve Harsin (Grand Marais Library), and Woody Gilk—were appointed to the Broadband Commission. They replace Paul Harvey, Jack McDonnell, Terry Meath and Jim Boyd.
. Commissioner Moe presented a letter that will be directed to Duane Hill, District Engineer for the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) to inform Hill of the disrepair of Highway 61 from County Road 14 to the Canadian border. Moe said the ride along this section of highway has deteriorated significantly. Moreover the rough conditions are causing damage to the highway department equipment on a regular basis.
The board agreed to send the letter to Hill and also to state legislators.
. The board authorized the County Highway Department to solicit bids for the crushing and stockpiling of aggregate for three gravel pits. Sealed bids are due by 2 p.m. April 8, 2015.
. The board authorized the hiring of Michelle Soldo on a contract basis of $140 per hour to review and provide advice and recommendations on personnel-related concerns over two days in two different departments. The departments include the assessor’s office and the Cook County Highway Department.
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