[Editor's Note: Grant County commissioners held a short special meeting right before a long work session on Nov. 14, 2023. This is the fourth of a series of articles covering the work session. it continues with a review of the regular meeting agenda for Nov. 16, 2023 and will include decisions made, as well as public input, proclamations and presentations.]
Photos((later in the article) and article by Mary Alice Murphy
County Manager Charlene Webb led the review of the Nov. 16, 2023 regular meeting agenda at the Nov. 14, 2023 work session.
Carlos Lucero, Western Bank vice president led off public input at the regular meeting. "I want to thank you for giving Western Bank the opportunity to bid for banking services to Grant County."
Joe Villarreal, a staffer for AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) Council 18, the bargaining unit representing the white collar and blue collar employees of the county, spoke next. "I'm here today to respectfully ask you all. I'm sure it is no surprise that we have failed to come to an agreement between the county and the union. We have ceased negotiations. But what I'm asking is only two simple things—for you not to take away our rights on overtime and that you not interfere with the disciplinary process that has been in place as long as these contracts have been in place. There's no dispute about money; there was no dispute about a holiday. We have tried since last November to get this resolved about the Juneteenth holiday, only to have that pulled out from under us two days before the holiday. We're at a loss on why this county would hire a renowned union buster that has a reputation for everywhere she goes to drag these negotiations on and to sit here and obfuscate whatever is going on here and to gaslight people about the way this negotiation process goes. We're wondering why anyone would want to take away our overtime rights we have in our contract. We understand the federal rules that require a 40-hour week before overtime or 84 hours for law enforcement before overtime. That's not the way overtime works in Grant County. We don't understand why we have to spend thousands of dollars to keep what we already had in our bargaining agreements. We would ask that you look at yourselves and your better angels and look at our proposal. Please pass our collective bargaining agreement and move forward from this madness. Thank you very much."
The next person to give input said his name was Jay and he is a maintenance technician at the county. "I feel I have to present a new perspective on a tired topic. I speak for myself, but on behalf of the majority of employees on an ongoing issue, union misrepresentation. I'll try not to get philosophical, except for this one quote from Socrates: 'The secret of change is not to focus on fighting the old, but on building the new.'"
"That's what I'm going to talk about," he continued. "A fight has been going on for three years here in the county, resulting in an absence of a union contract. I don't know the ins and outs and don't need to know. I do know what it feels like to be an employee caught in the middle. It's the common people, the peasants, who bear the burden. Grant County is a great employer, a great place to work, a safe workplace, with camaraderie, good sick leave and attentive management, on all levels a model employer, except this one fact. It is illegal, by union standards, to talk to management to discuss this one issue. So that's why we have a union, right? Wrong. It's an absent union. They don't have time for us. We wait patiently. What happens? Our union members from the Sheriff's Office come to a meeting just like this and air the dirty laundry, and they're rewarded by being given raises. I'd like to note: I think they should have raises for what they do for us all. The problem is the rest of the union positions were left with nothing. This is discriminatory and marginalizing more than half the represented positions. I work with a man who has paid dues for 20-plus years. How did that make him feel? We all feel the pinch of inflation; we all have loved ones that we want to take care of and want to see them happy. This is distressing and demeaning. We who are trusting the county to take care of us are left without a voice. The county can claim the union is at fault or the union can claim that the county is at fault and sit at a stalemate for years. The beautiful and dedicated employees have continued to take care of the community they serve. I believe when the county says they care for each one of us from the least to the great, I believe that's true, because I've seen it. So I ask, how can we have agreement and not be discriminated against? The answer is to take action, and we have. The majority have spoken and the ball is rolling on decertifying the union. We hope to build something that will succeed and have positive affects. A properly run union, perhaps a fraternal order of the police or an employee relations, maybe. Only time will tell, but it will be what the majority desire. Please, while taking care of necessary business with the union, don't forget about us, those who have proven they believe in hard work, integrity and honor. Don't take to heart those words of the few, who unprofessionally complain or intentionally malign our leadership, unrealistically demand, incompetently flail or otherwise insult you. Even though our hands have been tied as far as communication with you, hear us now, the majority that see things very differently. We see action on your part that you care about us as individuals. We know who let us down, who exploited us and ultimately hid behind a bastardized union. Thank you."
Linda Nichols said, first of all, what she was going to say is mostly directed at the Sheriff's Department. "First, I want to thank you for what you do. You put your lives on the line every single day when you leave your families and your loved ones. I live at 99 Rosedale Road, and this is where the NASCAR qualifier happens. Speed limit is 30 miles an hour, double yellow lines all the way from Albertson's to the end of Rosedale Road. Where I live it's a straight stretch of road. I would venture to say that 95 percent of the people do not drive the speed limit. I'm not talking about those who drive 35 or 40 miles an hour. Cars go by my driveway driving 50, 60, 65 miles an hour. It is regular people, vendors, contractors, good ol' UPS and FedEx. Almost everybody is exceeding the speed limit by a whole lot. The part I'm talking about is between where the Poes live and Ethel Lane. At least twice a month, we are almost rear-ended as we try to turn left into our driveway. They're really speeding when they come around that corner. Or they hit the gravel on the other side of the road and send gravel all over your windshield. We would invite you to park in our driveway, so you could see who some of these people are. I would say you could probably give between 30 and 50 citations a day. It's never ending. It starts about 5 in the morning. I don't know that signage would do any good, but I invite you to see what you can do. The only speed limit sign is between Albertson's and Country Road. If we could put up another speed limit sign and maybe a no-passing zone sign. I know it's not going to happen, but I would love to see some speed bumps, of course, after my driveway (she said with a smile). About a year ago, we saw a head-on accident near Ethel Lane. It was obvious to my husband and me that both had to have been speeding because of damage on the vehicles. A small child was standing beside one of the vehicles screaming his head off. I said: 'Isn't that so sad?' My husband replied: 'Yes, it is, but it would be sadder if the child was lying on the side of the road with a white sheet over him.' Anything you can do would be terribly appreciated."
Grant County commissioners present Tamal Fiesta y Mas to Santa Clara organizing committee membersDeputy Assessor Raul Turrieta read the proclamation for the Tamal Fiesta y Mas to take place at Fort Bayard National Landmark, hosted by Santa Clara on Nov. 18.
Turrieta said it has been moved to Fort Bayard so there is more space. "I want to acknowledge the committee who has worked hard on it. It started as three people and grew to about 12."
Corre Caminos driver Steve Duffy receives recognition of 10 years of service from Director Kim DominguezNext came presentations. Kim Dominguez, Corre Caminos director, presented an employee recognition to Steve Duffy for 10 years of service to Corre Caminos. "He is the only CDL driver in Deming. He came in last night after riding his motorcycle all the way from Kentucky, so he could be here today. We love him and hope he will be with us for many more years."
The second presentation recognized Cpl. Cody Thayer for his five years of dedicated service to the Detention Center. "Cody is a shift supervisor at the Detention Center and also a member of our Response Team."
Cpl. Cody Thayer receives recognition of five years of service from Detention Center Administrator Joseph AndazolaThe last presentation was by Sheriff's Department Deputy Aaron Ordoñez, as the FTO (field training officer) program. "As the program manager when a new hire comes on board, I am the first person they interact with for them to get the proper training for their day-to-day duties of law enforcement."
He compared the old program with the new program he is proposing, which is a bit longer and puts the evaluation after the training. "I'm trying to get this new program in to lower the liability for officers and the department. Within the documents themselves, it looks more complicated in the old program. With the new program, you see the comparison with the old side-by side. The old program was 13-18 weeks. The new program has 14 weeks minimum and 22 weeks maximum. We don't have to point out negatives with the new training program, and if there are negatives, remedial training is done immediately. It's the same training, but with fewer categories. It's more a common sense model."
The old form is the daily observation report. The new form is not observation anymore, it's the daily training report and there are fewer numbers and boxes to check off. The old observation reports had 24 categories. "We took out 10, so the new training reports have 14 categories. It's up to the training officer which categories are used the day of the training. The old form had five grades, with a trainee being able to pass with a 3. The new form is pass or fail, which will be determined during the evaluation after the training is complete.When there are negatives, remedial training is done where required as soon as possible. "
He pointed out the new program is all online. Before the evaluation phase, the trainee has to pass all 14 categories twice. Once they pass them twice, they are recommended to exit the training program. If they fail, they move to a third week of training as a tie-breaker. If they pass all categories twice during the third week they are recommended to be released from training. If not, they move on to a remedial training phase, which will hit the categories not passed in the first evaluation. If they don't pass they go before the training review committee and if the recommendation is that they be terminated, it is the sheriff that makes the final decision.
Ordoñez listed the increased documentation, which includes the daily training report, the end of week training summary, the end of phase training report, the daily evaluation report and the weekly evaluation report. He explained the increased documentation covers the officer and the department from possible liability. All documents are stored online and only administrative users can make changes. The FTOs are only allowed to view they records if they are the one who created the report. Once the record is electronically signed and submitted, the FTO cannot make changes.
He said implementation would require he train all the FTOs and the start up cost for the new program is $5,250, with a one-time entering of all the administrators and FTOs and all the event codes, so it syncs up with Dispatch. After the first year cost, it is an annual cost of $937.50.
Ordoñdez said, "The purpose of the program is to effectively and efficiently train and document the training of the officers to better support on-the-job progression and/or deficiencies and to continue to provide a positive reputation for the department as a whole, as well as the reputation of the officers."
"The main purpose is to most importantly uphold the confidence the community has in its law enforcement team," he said. "We want the community to know that we know what we are doing. What will make it easier is to have experienced officers who want to train a new generation."
He noted that the main reason officers do not want to train is because of compensation, as well as liability.
Ordoñez asked if the commissioners could consider better compensation for the trainers. He said he currently makes 80 cents more an hour to train someone who will make $5 an hour more than he does. He noted the compensation would only kick in when the FTO is actively training a new officer. He said the suggested increase would boost morale for current FTOs and make it easier to attract new officers to become trainers.
District 5 Commissioner Harry Browne asked for clarification on the liability issue. "As I understand it, a trainer will be more liable during training than during a normal duty. Is that correct?"
Ordoñez said it was correct. "In the case if there's an incident of something bad happening and someone comes into file a lawsuit, the first thing looked at in liability is their training. How were they trained? Is that why he did it because of the training? So the liability falls on the training officer because that was the deputy's first line of training before he was released into the world to make decisions on his own."
Browne asked if it were personal liability or departmental liability.
Ordoñez said one runs into personal liability when one looks into that officer's reputation. When the district attorney's office looks at the situation, the officer can be charged and lose certification. "I know of several officers who were not monetarily affected, but they lost their employment and certification because of something that happened. It's called giglioed."
District 3 Commissioner Alicia Edwards questioned the term.
Contracted County Attorney Ben Young explained that giglioed referred to a Supreme Court case that requires officers to be truthful in their presentation of evidence to the court in criminal prosecutions. "If there is an instance where an officer's credibility can be questioned and not turned over. It was, I believe U.S. versus Giglio, so that's where the term comes from for law enforcement."
The next article will continue with the work session review of the regular meeting agenda, along with items that took place and decisions made at the regular meeting.
For previous articles, please visit https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/81381-grant-county-commission-held-work-session-111423-part-1; https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/81427-grant-county-commission-held-work-session-111423-part-2 ; and https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/81509-grant-county-commission-held-work-session-111423-part-3 .