County and Teamsters hold special meeting

By Drew Lawson

The Times

Davenport – Another round of negotiations between Lincoln County and Teamsters 690 took place Monday, Aug. 30 in a special extension of the county commissioner’s Aug. 16 meeting. The talks indicated the two sides may be close to an agreement for the first time in five years, but still have some gaps to bridge before the process is complete.

Teamsters 690 representative Joe Kuhn said the two sides appear to have tentative agreements on holidays, wages and uniform allowances for commissioned officers. He said the county’s commissioned officers, which includes Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office deputies, are still discussing medical terms, so there is yet to be an agreement or full proposal from Teamsters to that regard.

The county and Teamsters also have yet to agree on management of shift schedules. Kuhn said he thought there had previously been an agreement, but talks indicated that hasn’t occurred yet.

“I’m hoping we can be done with all of this by the end of the year,” Kuhn commented.

Further disagreements were found in talks for non-commissioned officers, which includes the jail and dispatch staff, who are requesting a 5% raise. That’s a bridge the county won’t cross, county prosecutor Adam Walser said.

“Those officers are still paid well compared to their peers, so that’s a bridge the county won’t cross because that was already bargained for five years ago,” Walser said.

Walser has acted as the county’s speaking piece for these negotiations, while Kuhn has been the main microphone for the Teamsters side.

Dispatch officer and Davenport mayor Brad Sweet countered by saying the present wage of $21 an hour isn’t enough to entice employees to stay when many have to perform both jail and dispatch duties, whereas it’s one or the other in larger counties like Spokane County. He added that one could take a $20 an hour job at Amazon and not have to deal with the stresses of working with inmates and taking 911 calls.

County commissioner Rob Coffman said he understood Sweet’s point, but another raise wasn’t something the county could presently do from a financial standpoint while avoiding laying off employees. Sweet responded by saying new hires are already hard to come by, and it’s been difficult to keep employees in the jail/dispatch department.

The usual cast of characters were present for Monday’s negotiations.

Teamsters 690 was represented by Kuhn and Taj Wilkerson, while Sweet represented the non-commissioned officers and deputy Luke Mallon represented the commissioned officers.

The county side was represented by commissioners Coffman, Mark Stedman and Scott Hutsell (the latter of whom was late to the meeting), sheriff Wade Magers, undersheriff Kelly Watkins and Walser.

Further negotiations are nearly a month away. The next set time for a meeting is Monday, Sept. 27.