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Contract negotiations with Solon Jail officers begin
(by Sue Reid - April 28, 2011)
Contract negotiations with Solon Jail officers begin
By SUE REID
Initial negotiations began last week between the City of Solon and correction officers at the Solon Jail who are represented by the Ohio Police Benevolent Association.
It is the last contract outstanding among the city's eight collective bargaining units. All of the others are signed through Dec. 31, 2012.
The correction officers' wages have been frozen since Aug. 1, 2010, which is when their contract period began.
The freeze was imposed due to the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department reorganization of how it disseminates prisoners in the area.
"That significantly affected our prison population in Solon for 2010," Solon Human Resource Director Thomas Cornhoff said. "However, the last quarter of 2010 was better, and we've been holding our own so far in 2011."
At this time, none of the seven full-time correction officer positions are affected, Mr. Cornhoff said. There also are six part-time correction officers, but they are not part of the collective bargaining unit.
Last year, two full-time correction officer positions were eliminated due to the decrease in jail population. If the Solon Jail were to get back to full capacity, which is over 30 prisoners, the administration would have to consider additional full-time employees, and the two who were eliminated have certain recall rights, per their collective bargaining agreement, Mr. Cornhoff said.
"The city was not receiving sufficient revenues in 2010 to cover the nine full-time correction officers that we had, so those revenues will have to be watched to make sure they cover the seven," Mr. Cornhoff said.
That is not the sole factor in the negotiations, he noted. "There's a safety factor here too that's taken into consideration in terms of the number of officers at the jail and whether the jail should operate."
Ultimately, the decision makers would be Police Chief Christopher P. Viland and Sgt. William McGee, the jail administrator, who are experts in that area, Mr. Cornhoff said.
In addition to Mr. Viland and Mr. McGee, taking part in the negotiations were Michael Hostler, labor negotiator for the OPBA, Charles DeGross, the city's chief labor negotiator, and Nanci Meier, lead negotiator for the correction officers.
"I thought we had a very good first meeting," Mr. Cornhoff said. "We're optimistic that we can get this settled in the next few weeks."
"This is my first round of negotiations since this negotiation has begun with the correction officers, and I am very impressed with how reasonable and quickly we have been able to come with some conclusions," Mr. Viland said. "I am confident that we will wrap these negotiations up in a fair and equitable manner and in short order."
Although the area of wages has not been determined, the correction officers' bargaining unit has agreed to random drug testing and health-care portions of the contract, Mr. Cornhoff said.
While every negotiation has the potential to reach an impasse, he said, "both sides are very optimistic that we can get a settled contract here."
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