Perry County Tribune:
Paving the Way for an Additional Road Deputy
This article, written by Ben Carpenter, was first published in The Perry County Tribune on April 23, 2018.
Time and time again one of the biggest shortfalls our Sheriff and his staff remind us, is of the problem of sufficient coverage of the county during all shifts with road Deputies. Of course, time and time again the reason for the continued struggle is due to the limited budget throughout our Perry County finances.
We have made a huge improvement to the Sheriffs budget which will allow us, the Board of Commissioners to authorize and support the addition of one new permanent full-time road deputy, to serve the people of Perry County.
Within the Sheriffs office most employees are part of an employee union in an agreement between the Perry County Board of Commissioners, The Perry County Sheriff’s Office, and the Fraternal Order of Police, Ohio Labor Council. I had the opportunity to represent the Board of Commissioners and sit in on the recent negotiations for the new contract covering January 1, 2018-December 31, 2020.
Most of the discussion and negotiations in any new contract are understandably between labor and management regarding policy and operations of the office. However, this year insurance was also discussed. Perry County is self-insured to provide medical, dental and vision insurance to all our County employees. Through previous union contracts, the Sheriff’s union employees had a different insurance plan apart from the other county employees. That plan provided some additional benefits and naturally cost the County more.
Our proposal that I was able to take to the bargaining table was to move all the SO employees to the exact same insurance policy and exact coverage as all the other County employees. If approved by the union It would provide a savings to our County budget significant enough to fund an additional road deputy with no real increase needed to the Sheriffs Budget. Much to their credit the union representatives took the proposal to their voting members and the change was approved. With this new contract we have been able to make those changes to the insurance coverage, reducing our insurance cost and funding this new position.
It is understandable that every employee that works for a paycheck wants the most for himself in salary and benefits. It is encouraging and commendable that the union employees approved a proposal and new contract for insurance, that while it comes in line with all the other county employees, it is a reduction in coverage from the previous contract. The change to this new contract will make it possible to hire an additional full-time road deputy, that will be on the job to protect and serve the people of Perry County.
Thank you to everyone that helped make this change possible.
