Commissioners puzzled by union clause triggering raise

It wasn’t so much cost, or quality of candidates or personnel, or any other typical issue that gave pause to County Commissioners when they approved recent personnel changes at the District Court. Despite a projected budget shortfall, the commissioners were willing to move forward without too much concern, albeit for one hangup — a union stipulation they hadn’t seen before.

Brandy Rux, assistant to the infraction, criminal and civil case manager, was set to be promoted to criminal case manager, with a raise of $201 per month. The promotion filled a vacant position already in the budget, thereby having no impact on the general fund. The catch was, according to a union contract, the promotion also triggered a raise for another court employee, Linda Foster. Foster has more seniority than Rux but passed on the promotion, and her union contract stipulates that in that case, she still receives a raise, in this case $71 per month.

“I’ll be asking that that language be removed in the next contract negotiation,” Commissioner Vickie Raines said. “I don’t get that. I don’t think you should get more pay because you got passed up.”

Commissioner Wes Cormier was perplexed by the stipulation.

“I wonder when that was negotiated,” he said. “That’s never come up like that.”

None of the commissioners had seen the language before the District Court promotion.

While Foster’s raise will cost the county $355 for the year, effective Monday, March 2, the District Court also believes the county will see a net savings of $374 by filling Rux’s position with somebody starting at a lower pay scale. The position previously paid $3,739 per month, but the District Court plans to hire an employee for about $3,365 per month.

Other raises and new hires were more straight forward.

The probationary deputy coroner was promoted to deputy coroner. Each deputy coroner is on a probationary period for six months. The promotion includes a raise of $1 per hour, and the cost was part of the 2015 budget.

An employment contract between the Juvenile Detention Center and Dr. Sean R. White was approved for Jan. 1 through Dec. 31. White will earn $2,000 per month — a deal for the county, administrator Greg Reynvaan said.

“It gives us less liability because we have an actual doctor on site if anything ever occurred that’s medically serious, and having a doctor on site saves us on emergency room transports, which has lowered our costs as well,” Reynvaan said.

A professional services agreement with Robert Delahanty was approved. Delahanty will act as the Community Services Coordinator for a total of no more than $20,000 through Dec. 31.