KING COUNTY CORRECTIONS GUILD

Transcription

1 KING COUNTY CORRECTIONS GUILD GENERAL MEMBERSHIP/ EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING MINUTES The information below is documentation of the Attendance, Topics, and Actions taken during the General Membership and Executive Board Meetings. They do not reflect exact conversations or debates about individual topics. ALL Guild Members are encouraged to attend and participate. General Membership Meetings are held on the last Wednesday of the month at 1800 hrs. The Executive Meeting is held on the 2 nd Wednesday of the month. Attendance OFFICERS MEMBERS President David Richardson Oyebiyi, F Porter, S. Vice-President Absent Fridge, C. Logwood, C. Secretary Joseph Harvey Tomlin, T. Owens, M. Treasurer David Kirk Anderson, A. Porter, D. KCJ 1 st Shift Sundee Berg McIntosh, L. Lofink, R. KCJ 2 nd Shift Richard Gorman Davis, L. Bedinger, D KCJ 3 rd Shift Leonard Orth Mathews, S. McCoy, K. KCJ 4 th Shift Randy Weaver Caldwell, K. Orth, K. RJC 1 st Shift Zan Hyatt Hubl, R. Douglas, L. RJC 2 nd Shift Phil Mendigorin Verhelst, F. RJC 3 rd Shift Absent Coats, R. RJC 4 th Shift Absent Coleman, S. Ex-Officio Williams, C. Legal Advisor Trevor Caldwell/Anil Stuver, K. Political Advis. Chris Vance Johnston, V. Call to Order President Richardson called the meeting to order at 1800hrs. Reading of the Minutes The Minutes of the June 14, 2017 General Membership/ Executive Board Meeting were reviewed and amended. A Motion to accept the minutes as amended was presented. All Executive Board Members in attendance voted. Motion presented by: R. Weaver 2 nd by: L. Orth Motion: Passed X / Failed Old Business Short Term Disability Insurance Contacted Hartford Rep 1) Looking at options to services stemming from the change in use of sick leave before accessible 2) Looking at opt out options 1

2 President s Report 1. Concerns over protocols for dealing with Critical Incidents and the Guilds ability to gather information and reports. This will be brought up at Labor Management to ensure that Membership rights are adhered to. 2. Along this same line Shift Reps and Guild Officers will be trained and communicate that training to individual shifts. We are going to work on clarifying and internal protocols and adjust as needed. 3. Negotiations update: Negotiations are moving to the Mediation phase. Mediation dates are scheduled for Aug We are continuing to work on the suggestions put forth by the Department on ways to ease the burden of mandatory overtime. 5. A recent press release of the Sherriff s overtime impacts has been published. This study has some reference s that are very poignant to our overtime situation. 6. Employee Awards Ceremony is coming up. 7. During an Executive Board recess, it was determined that the presented petition and signatures would be tabled until a further evaluation by Legal Advisement and procedural processes can be clarified. 8. Legal Opinion will be obtained on obligations to provide continued representation of the 6 individually named Members of the lawsuit brought by our former legal advisor. Projected update on this status is at the General Membership meeting in July. Treasurer s Report 1. Treasury report of account balances were given. 2. Last month s expenditures were provided. 3. Trustees are being tasked with reviewing all bills received from the lawsuit brought by our former legal advisor. This review will consist of a breakdown of expenditures into categories as to ascertain where the expenditures were allocated. 4. An ask by the membership present to include actual dollar amounts in the minutes was put forth: Upon discussion with Legal advisement this is not advisable. Balancing the Right of the Membership to have access to financial records with our inherently adversarial role with Management. The records are always available for review at the Guild office. 5. An ask by the membership present to provide a more detailed report of money spent: Currently a print out of expenditures is provided at the meetings. The membership present request that this print out have more detail of exact information. A change from past treasury reports (Pre 16) is that checks are used for expenditures vs checks/credit cards/ debit cards etc. The only accessibility to cash is through the petty cash established for Negotiations Motion # All other expenditures are reimbursements by check when a receipt is presented and filed. This system is a bare bones system put in place to minimize access to moneys and make recording of these accesses straight forward. This presents as a much simpler accounting vs the multitude of accounts and expenditures of the prior treasurer. This system is not without its restraints. It has made bill paying difficult in some areas due to the move away from checks by many financial institutions and vendors. Our ongoing development of use and accounting is continuing to develop. 6. Out of the above questions came: Can we generate a financial report that only the membership can look at? This is the goal, but must be balanced with preserving the ability to pursue actions on behalf of the membership without disclosing our abilities financially to the Department through published information or worse case forwarding information that is for Guild Members only. This situation is not isolated to just our bargaining unit. We will continue to look for ways. Any suggestions please forward to the Treasurer. 2

3 Secretary s Report 1. Question arose of why actions taken at prior Executive Sessions were not posted on that meetings minutes. Historically in my review of past minutes prior to being elected Secretary, I noted many votes taken by the Executive Board were not even recorded. This was one of the items that I and many other Board members looked to resolve. Starting with the very first minutes I posted, Executive votes conducted after the General Membership meetings were reflected on the following meetings minutes as Actions Taken at the Prior Meeting Executive Board Session. This has been done numerous times and is available for verification as the minutes are posted on A question of the Board attempting to hide actions taken was raised. Given the above explanation and consistent approach of recording actions taken by the Executive Board, this assertion is incorrect. I have been open and spoken with many individuals about input on how the Minutes should look as to reflect actual events, clear of individual opinion and ideology. The current format and structure of the minutes is a compilation of many of those inputs. Lobbyist/ Public Affairs Report Presented By: Chris Vance We have continued to be very active on the issue of mandatory overtime. On Monday the Council passed a supplemental budget ordinance that includes two new FTE s to speed up the hiring process, and provisos directing the Executive to deliver reports to the Council on improving the hiring process, hospital guarding, and other ways to improve mandatory overtime. We will keep pushing on this issue until it is solved. Senator Steve Hobbs has agreed to work with us new legislation regarding the retirement age for Corrections staff. This is a huge first step in what is likely to be a long process. We will get this bill started once the current special session finally ends. Politically, this year we will be interviewing candidates and making endorsements for the odd numbered seats on the County Council, and the County Executive s race, and possibly other races if the Board so chooses. We are trying to schedule a time for Executive Constantine to attend a General Membership meeting. Legal Report Presented By: 1. Legal Review of the function and purpose of Petitions as outlined in the Constitution and Bylaws: Petitions serve as an advisory mechanism to the Executive Board. 2. Quorum: under current language or lack of, a Quorum is 25% of total membership. 3. Discussion on the legality and ability to establish a Proxy voting system within existing language. This item was tabled for further discussion and opinion along with the abilities to use proxy votes to substitute as a Quorum. Simply introducing this has legal and procedural implication that need review and procedural development. A Legal opinion will be forth coming on ability. The goal is to move the Guild forward in a direction that provides structure and stability. 4. Constitution and Bylaws need review by committee for updating. Shift Reports 3

4 KCCF 1 st KCCF 2 nd KCCF 3 rd KCCF 4 th RJC 1 st RJC 2 nd RJC 3 rd ---- RJC 4 th Issues with the requirement of bringing every Restrictive Housed inmate to the classification office for every interaction. This is extremely time consuming, especially when the situation requires a standby. 2. At what point is Sick leave available for use. KCCF4 Weaver reminded the board that this issue was taken to arbitration. The argument the Guild presented was that sick leave should be immediately available upon earning. The current contract language indicates Full-time benefit eligible employees shall accrue sick leave benefits at the rate of hrs. for each hour in pay status exclusive of overtime. Although the arbitrator agreed with our argument the County argued that it was too labor intensive. Results were the arbitrator agreed that it was to labor intensive therefore making thedecision that sick leave is only available when it is reflected on the members pay check. 3. Issues concerning the consistent interpretation and use of the Gun ReQual Flow Chart. This issue has been brought up before and some remedies have been discussed. Issue will be revisited at Labor Management Agenda. 4. A gathering of proxy votes has been done by KCCF1. These proxy votes were not presented due to the tabling of discussion on the ability of such a process within our Constitution and Bylaws and the tabling of the subject matter pending Legal review. This was done with extensive discussion. KCCF 1 Rep feels that Proxy votes are valid for a list of reasons to include: 1) KCCF1 contacted the Fire Marshal and indicated that fire code would only allow 39 people in the Meeting Hall, resulting in an impossibility to gather 25% attendance. 2) R.C.W that KCCF1 interprets as clarification that when governing language is silent Proxy votes are allowed. These and many other points were taken into consideration. Due to conflicts with existing Constitution and Bylaws language, differing opinions and the need for further research legally, this item was also tabled for further discussion. 1. Issues with better communication of serious events to include staff assaults with other shifts and facilities. 2. Issues of Critical Incident Protocols on debriefs not being followed. This will be placed on the Labor Management Agenda. None 1. Issue with specific gloves that the CERT team members are allowed to wear. Will follow up with Command Staff to gain clarification. None 1. Use of overtime gun officers to fill gun posts (Hospital) when shift guns are available. This creates and issues with timely relief. Will forward this to Labor Management as another piece to offsetting the impacts of Mandatory Overtime. Member Reports Presented by: 1. M. Owens: Asked why 2 specifically named individuals could vote on motions pertaining to the lawsuit brought against the Guild which includes individually named members? This subject has been brought up recently when board members have signed affidavits or letters requested to support our former Legal Advisors lawsuit against the Guild. Nothing in our Governing guidelines prevent or preclude them from 4

5 voting so those members have voted on issues that a conflict existed. It was also noted that all the motions voted on would not have changed even without their votes. 2. M. Owens: Asked about our status in the JLMIC: This is a Joint Labor Medical Insurance Coalition that negotiates our medical plans with the County and Medical Providers. We have been on the board of this coalition since M. Owens said per his source, that he was not willing to reveal, stated we (KCCG) were being removed from the board. Vice President Folk and now Secretary Harvey have been attending JLMIC meetings and are involved with JLMIC board discussions, at no time was this conveyed. The Guild will pursue this rumor and potential sources of it. ADDITIONAL BUISNESS 1. Petitions presented at June 14, 2017 meeting: We, the undersigned, members in good standing, pursuant to Article 1 Section 8 of the Bylaws, hereby present this PETITION. This PETITION shall upon the signatures of enough members in good standing whereby a QUORUM would be obtained if said signators were present at a General Membership Meeting, shall serve as a DIRECTIVE to the Executive Board, particularly the PRESIDENT to effectuate the purpose posed herein. THE GUILD SHALL NOT PROVIDE NOR PAY FOR SEPARATE COUNSEL TO THE INDIVIDUAL SUED IN KING COUNTY CAUSE NUMBER SEA. This petition was circulated and signatures were gathered. Signatures were reviewed, minus a few duplicate signatures, signatures were validated. Legal Review of the impacts of this petition and it s abilities took place. At this point a petition is only an advisement of signed members of an issue. The Petition and its signatures will be archived. 2. Petitions presented prior to circulation in accordance with Article 1 Section 8 Bylaws. A) We, the undersigned, members in good standing, pursuant to Article 1, Section 8 of the Bylaws, hereby present this Petition. In accordance with Article X of the Guild bylaws, We, the undersign, hereby call for an AMENDMENT to these Guild Bylaws. This amendment proposal seeks to add language to Article IV of the bylaws, for purposes of recognizing and defining proxy authority. Amendment language as follows: Proxy. Except where otherwise provided by RCW 24.06, the Articles of Incorporation or the Bylaws, members in good standing may designate their proxy authority to any other member in good standing, for purposes of voting or establishing quorum at regular or special meetings. As specified in RCW 24.06, any execution of writing authorizing another person to act for the member shall be acceptable for designating proxy. B) We, the undersigned, members in good standing, pursuant to Article 1, Section 8 of the Bylaws, hereby present this Petition. In accordance with Article X of the Guild bylaws, We, the undersign, hereby call for an AMENDMENT to these Guild Bylaws. This amendment proposal seeks to add language to Article IV of the bylaws, for purposes of recognizing and defining proxy authority. Amendment language as follows: Quorum. The Quorum for both regular meetings and special meetings shall be fifty(50) members, or, 10% of the whole of the membership in good standing, whichever is greater. A quorum shall be considered established when enough members are present either in person, or by properly executed proxy. Move to adjourn Meeting/ Enter Executive Session Motion presented by: Z. Hyatt 2 nd : R. Weaver Motion : Passed X/ 5