December Labor Management

LABOR MANAGEMENT MEETING MINUTES
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2008, AT 11A

Present for Management: Director Larry Phillips, Assistant Director Brian Thomas, Security
Director Eugene McAdory, Personnel Director Kendra Robeson, and Labor Relations Andrea Leake
Present for the Union: AFSCME Representative Chuck Stout, President Travis Houzenga,
Vice President Amy Clark, Secretary Terri Vaniter, Treasurer Jerry Markley, and Executive Board Travis Smith
Absent for the Union: Executive Board Brian Cooper

In-House Postings Mr. Houzenga stated that he doesn’t know if it can be done. People who
are interested in bettering their days off wondered if we lose people, and we have no funding for vacancies, would they possible be able to move into that position? The Director said that is something I am going to have to look at. Mr. Houzenga said that he knows there are a couple of individuals who have left 3rd shift and a Sgt. on 2nd shift, so there’s not a whole lot. The Director said, "Let me do some looking into this. Give me some time. I will meet back with you on this." Mr. Houzenga said, "That works."
STA IV Equalization of Overtime Mr. Houzenga said that the members are calling for the
overtime to be equalized and according to the contract that is the way it is supposed to be offered.
Mr. McAdory said, "I agree. The STA IV overtime will be equalized."
Scheduling changes Mr. Houzenga said that some days of the week changes are taking place,
and they are not as a result of call offs. There is some tweaking done at the last minute. People are coming prepared based on what they know the day before, then they get changed and have all this extra stuff to lug around because their assignment was changed. Can’t any tweaking be done the day before? Like I said, they are not as a result of call offs. People are feeling as though they are getting punished or slighted. One Captain in particular is doing the changes. Mr. McAdory said that he will attempt to make minimal changes. Some of th last minute changes have been made by me, and Mr. Williams has received direction from me. These changes are based on writ scheduling, concerns within a unit, information received from the Director, etc. I will try to keep it at a minimum, but when changes are made it is not directed at anyone. Mr. Stout asked about cases when no direction is received from you. Mr. McAdory indicated that no changes would be made. The Director wanted to know if we were talking about Thanksgiving. Mr. Houzenga said that it happens on a fairly regular basis.
Copies of Counseling Mr. Houzenga said that we were making progress on the
counselings - they were sitting down with staff and discussing things, etc. Now we’re not getting copies of the counselings. The Director said that we are getting that taken care of. I am tweaking this. This is not a problem - direction was not filtering down.
Radio Traffic - Maintenance Mr. Houzenga said that they have a suggestion of putting
Maintenance on 7 and the capability to scan, so if they need to address security, they could go to 1. The Director said that he has been looking at decreasing radio traffic. I want to make sure the communication is clear. I think we will try to get them on 7, but it may get to the point that you might have to call Chris Denison and leave a message. There was something previously on the scanning. I agree that we need to cut down. Be patient while we try to work this out. Mr. Houzenga said that they have to get with Shift Commander for this. Mr. Markley said, "Doesn’t the Shift Commander have 7 on their radio?" Mr. McAdory said, "No." Mr. T. Smith asked about Entry Control - do they have 7? The Director stated that we will check on Entry. Ms. Clark said that she didn’t think they did. Mr. McAdory called Entry, and they have no Channel 7 capabilities. The Director said that we will take a look at the program.
Supplemental Mr. Houzenga asked what Management’s intensions were on this. The
Director said that we are tweaking a few things, and we will be ready in the next couple of weeks - after the first of the year. Mr. Stout asked if Management would have a proposal for the Union? The Director asked if the Union had any changes. Mr. Stout said that they are not asking for this. If you have changes, you need to get with us, and we will discuss with you. The Director indicated that we are not looking any major changes, just a couple of things. Let’s look at the week of January 5th. It was decided that a meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 6th at 10A, for discussion.
General Discussion Ms. Clark indicated that vacation scheduling will be starting in January.
Mr. Houzenga asked if we got a number. Ms. Clark stated that Mr. Winters is only looking at a change on the Captains on first shift.
Mr. Markley asked about the Property Clerk - what is their job - resident or TDF property? They are handling resident property, but also passing out things to the Control Centers. Mr. McAdory said that the Personal Property STA is for the residents property; however, when supplies are ordered, they will assist in distributing on the units. Mr. Thomas said that the Store Keepers deliver to a cost center - Liberty, Units, Health Care, etc. Mr. McAdory stated that each area is in charge of their own items. Sometimes a Movement STA is free and delivers. It’s whoever has a few minutes.
The Director stated that his office put out a memo a couple of weeks ago about ensuring that his office receives original incident reports. We had discussed in this meeting about staff receiving copies of their incident reports once they’ve turned them in, and I’ve started receiving only copies in my office instead of the originals. Ms. Clark said that sometimes the STA turns their report into the Sgt., and if they get busy, the STA doesn’t get their copy. The Director said that if you don’t get a copy back, come to my office the next day, and we’ll get you a copy of it.
Mr. T. Smith talked about certain residents who can only be moved by ERT members. Lester is one of them. I can be on the unit with him all day long, but I can’t move him a few feet if he needs to go to Health Care. Mr. McAdory stated that there is a reason for that. If you recall when Pickett first came, we introduced a step down process - minimal amount of privileges, and gradually letting him progress based on his behavior. Lester came in, and we put him under tight scrutiny. Nothing changes without mine and the Director’s direction. As he has progressed, we gave back some things. Movement outside the unit was the last thing he was going to get. The step down process involves ERT. We got this process from Florence, CO, and it has proved to be successful. Lester is at that final step, and we are looking at moving him to normal activities after Christmas. The Director said, "This is nothing against you." Ms. Clark said that they did ask for something after the Pickett thing. Sometimes we get that information in Briefing and sometimes we don’t. The Director said that we try to share as much information as we can, but we didn’t even know the guy was coming yesterday until we heard radio traffic that they were on their way here. Mr. McAdory said, "Patterson - more of a Mental Health case than an assault case." Ms. Clark asked about Hillebrand - he’s another one. You can’t put him off on his issues. Mr. McAdory said that hopefully they will get him to consent to treatment.
Ms. Vaniter asked about the procedure if a resident makes comments in group about possibly hurting staff. The Therapist told staff that night, but it wasn’t relayed on to other staff on the unit. Mr. McAdory said that kind of information should reach his office. Something similar happened this morning. If we believe a person may attack someone, that better get all the way up to my level. Ms. Vaniter said that she just heard about it through the grapevine. Mr. McAdory said that a possible resolution would be to place the resident in Temp Special. The Director indicated that he wants to hear these things clear up in his office. I would rather take them out of the mix. We will try to share as much information as we can. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.

The next Labor Management Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 20, 2009, at 11A.