LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a short-term memorandum of understanding with the Lake County Deputy Sheriff’s Association that union leadership said will help with recruitment and retention thanks to a major fix to health benefits.
For years, deputies and other county employees have had to pay large amounts of money out of pocket for the county-sponsored medical, dental, vision and life group insurance plan.
During a board meeting last year, association Deputy Sheriff’s Association President John Drewrey proposed having the county pick up 80 percent of the health care costs for deputies while the deputies picked up 20 percent. He said the additional cost to the county would in fact be modest.
That proposal turned out to be a key benefit worked into the new MOU, which runs from May 7 to Dec. 31.
County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson told the board on Tuesday that most of the county’s labor groups have agreed to tentative new agreements through the end of the calendar year, with the Deputy Sheriff’s Association’s MOU the first of those agreements to go before the board.
Key provisions of the new agreement include a vacation cash out, which allows a one-time payment of 40 hours’ worth of vacation pay for those deputies with more than 200 hours of vacation time. Huchingson said the deputies had agreed to a 30-hour cash out, but the board wanted to raise it to 40 hours.
That’s particularly important, she said, because deputies have been challenged in taking vacation time due to staff shortages.
The county also has offered two personal leave days when cost of living increases haven’t been given. In the new MOU, Huchingson said that has been replaced with a five-day winter holiday around Christmas.
The most significant change is that the county agreed to pay 80 percent of the health care contribution for deputies, with the deputies to bear the remaining 20 percent.
“The cost involved with this switch is not enormous,” said Huchingson, noting it will make a tremendous difference for employees in the bargaining unit and will make the cost quite a bit more reasonable.
In a separate interview, Drewrey told Lake County News that he estimates the cost to the county will be about $1,000 a month, a “drop in the bucket.”
He said that for an employee plus two or more family members, the cost will go from $1,217 a month to $443 a month. Those who are signed up as singles on the health insurance – which Drewrey said totals about three quarters of the membership – who now are paying nothing will pay $165 a month.
Huchingson said the union and the county also agreed that the classification and compensation study now under way for the county will prioritize studying benefits and pay for the deputies’ union members first.
She thanked Auditor-Controller/County Clerk Cathy Saderlund, who has stepped up the internal processes to respond to the changes in order to make them effective for the first pay day in June. Saderlund also will work with employees to pay the cash out benefit as expeditiously as she can, no later than 90 days from approval
“We’re excited about this,” said Huchingson, noting the county and the deputies’ union will get back to the bargaining table this summer.
“There’s been a lot of hard work that’s been put into this, a lot of tough decisions that are being made on your part,” Drewrey told the board, noting that there is a “huge promise” in the short-term MOU.
Drewrey said that he feels like they are moving in the right direction. “This is monumental. This is something that we’ve never thought that we would see in our times here.”
He said union members supported it strongly, as it will benefit both the union and the county in the long term.
Board Chair Tina Scott told Drewrey that he came to them with a problem he wanted them to solve, and at the same time brought the solution in the form of the 80/20 proposal. “It was very exciting to see that, and I’m glad we were able to implement that.”
Scott added, “I think it’s going to make a big difference.”
Drewrey said they have lost many employees due to the health insurance issue, and the new agreement has helped stop one employee who was planning to leave.
Sheriff Brian Martin said his agency is in the business of providing services, which it can’t do without people. He said the recruitment and retention issue is a tremendous one that is hitting critical levels and impacting constituents.
“This 80/20 split on the health insurance is huge,” he said, explaining that Lake County has a lot to offer. “This is a great place to raise your family.”
In addition to keeping people who might leave, the new benefit can attract those who previously wouldn’t even have applied, Martin said. “This is going to go a long way to rectify that.”
Supervisor Moke Simon said law enforcement is a priority, and he gets calls every day about it. He said they understand what the community is looking for and are working on the classification and compensation study.
“We are going to make this a better county,” he said, adding, “You were heard when you came before us that we need to make a change.”
He thanked Drewrey for bringing forward a solution. “It’s a good day today.”
Supervisor EJ Crandell also thanked Drewrey for the solution and he moved to approve the MOU, which was approved in a 3-0 vote. Supervisors Rob Brown and Bruno Sabatier were absent for the meeting.
“I have to clap because this is big,” Huchingson said after the vote.
Hope for negotiations ahead
Drewrey told Lake County News that the MOU is only seven months long because the county didn’t want to agree to anything with a long term fiscal impact while they’re waiting for the classification and compensation study.
He said the union will be heading back to the table to seek solutions in the long term. “It’s going to take time for the county to recover.”
There is a sunset clause in the MOU that, if the parties can’t agree on an update, the contribution would revert to more than $1,200. Drewrey said there’s great hope that won’t happen if a new deal is in place prior to the expiration of the newly approved MOU.
He said at the union ratification meeting, several deputies who have worked for the county for more than 25 years said they never thought such a benefit would ever happen. “It gave them hope for the county.”
Drewrey maintains that if people don’t feel safe in a community, they won’t live, work or vacation there, and that before attracting business and jobs, the public safety issue needs to be addressed.
He said normal staffing is six deputies and a sergeant per shift, but now it’s two deputies and a sergeant. The hope is that the benefit upgrade will help change that.
“I’m optimistic that we’ll see some changes,” Drewrey said.
The board also approved a side letter with the Lake County Sheriff Management Association regarding its calendar year 2019 memorandum of understanding. The action offers changes including updated salary on promotion language, and the same vacation cash out and winter holiday benefits as offered to the deputies.
Also on Tuesday, the board approved changes to the resolutions for management employees and for Confidential A and B employees, offering new salary on promotion language, a 30-hour vacation cash out benefit for those with more than 200 accrued vacation hours and the winter holiday.
The changes also included an allowance for the incumbents in the elected offices of assessor-recorder, auditor-controller/county clerk, district attorney, sheriff-coroner and treasurer-tax collector to request and receive one-time compensation equal to 1.45 percent of their base pay, an amount which Huchingson said is essentially equal to the one-time vacation cash out allowable for appointed employees.
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