The Commissioners Court and the Sheriff’s Office had an especially good Thanksgiving. The Sheriff’s Office Employee Association approved the collective bargaining agreement with the county for a new two-year contract.
The new contract replaces the old agreement which had been extended through an “evergreen clause” in it. The previous contract had not been renewed since 2009.
Sheriff Lane Mooney thanked the Commissioners Court and County Judge John Gothia for working to get the collective bargaining agreement to the Employee Association and is very happy to have the contract negotiations behind him so that the Sheriff’s Office can carry on with its main business of serving the people of Orange County. “My guys, they were finally ready to get this done and get back to work. It’s taken a lot of time out of our daily activities, and we’re ready to get back to work, and I’m so thankful for the judge,” Mooney expressed.
The Commissioners Court will schedule a meeting in the coming week to officially accept the new contract with the Sheriff’s employees. County Judge Gothia echoed the words of Sheriff Mooney thanking him and stating that the contract will benefit both parties and the people of the county.
Getting the collective bargaining agreement approved was a team effort involving Mooney, Gothia, and the entire Commissioners Court. Public hearings were conducted with the whole Court participating in the negotiations sessions with the Sheriff’s Office Employee Association.
The judge believes the new contract is fair to everybody involved in the collective bargaining process. “Our main focus was to come out with a contract that was beneficial to our citizens and gave our sheriff the ability to run his department, gave us the ability to be able to afford the department, and the citizens to be able to afford it as well. Both of our goals as we were elected to do is to protect our citizens and to make sure we’re watching out for them,” Gothia concluded this contract will do that.
The new contract is for two years with a two-year grace period for future negotiations of the next contract. The “evergreen clause” was removed from the new contract.
New clauses in the approved agreement were changes to the vacation policy. Included for the first time was comp time for deputies that work extra hours who desired time off instead of overtime pay. The agreement matched the 50 cents an hour across the board raise given previously to other county employees.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
Social Media