Supervisors discuss updating County's comprehensive plan, grievance filed by Secondary Roads employee

by Bob Beach

During its regular meeting Monday, July 29 the Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met with Allamakee County Zoning Administrator Tom Blake and Carla Organist of Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission (UERPC) to discuss a possible update of the County's comprehensive plan. Blake said that the Planning and Zoning Commission had discussed the update as requested and recommended that a countywide plan be developed to include the cities within the county. Blake said that the County's comprehensive plan was last updated in 2002 and that updates are recommended every five to ten years. He said that the current plan is good, but that the land use section is "lacking."
Organist said that UERPC would be willing to assist the County with the update. She said that "smart planning principles" would be used to develop a plan that would seek to avoid conflicts among the various elements that go into long-range development planning and that working with cities within the county would improve the final plan, but would increase the time needed to complete the plan and would increase the overall cost of developing the plan. She said that the cost of developing a plan for the County only would be approximately $15,000, while the cost to involve cities within the county would range between $5,000 to $8,000 per jurisdiction, depending on the level of involvement from the cities.
Supervisor Sherry Strub said that the County's comprehensive plan needs to be updated and that the county's cities should be invited to participate. She also suggested that a cost-sharing plan should be considered, perhaps on a per capita basis. Chairman Larry Schellhammer and Supervisor Dennis Koenig agreed and the Board directed Blake and Organist to arrange to meet with city councils to invite them to participate.
The Board also met with County Engineer Brian Ridenour to discuss a grievance filed by a Secondary Roads employee. Ridenour said that several Secondary Roads employees were recently called in to work on a Saturday for emergency road repairs but that one employee filed a grievance because he had not been called in and was deprived of overtime pay. Ridenour said that the employee was offered additional working hours to earn eight hours of overtime, but that offer was not agreeable to the employee. The next step, Ridenour said, was to bring the grievance before the Board of Supervisors.
Mark Jones, representing the Secondary Roads employee union, said that other grievances could have been filed on the same day by other employees who should have been called in to work instead of those who were called in. He said that the employee has offered to accept eight hours of comp time to settle the grievance.
Ridenour said that there are a number of factors to be considered when determining who should be called in - the urgency of the work that needs to be done, the availability of the machines and operators, etc. He added that while those factors are included in the union contract, there is no remedy spelled out in the contract in instances where employees are not called in when they should be and that the contract should be straightened out in that regard. Ridenour also noted that the County has never filed a grievance when Secondary Roads employees are asked to come in but for whatever reason don't want to work.
Supervisor Koenig said that he thought the offer of eight hours of overtime work seemed like a fair offer, but Jones said that such disputes have never been handled that way and that the union is not interested in starting now. Supervisor Strub pointed out that neither remedy is spelled out in the contract, and while there is not a large amount of money in dispute, the Board should be cautious in setting a precedent. Chairman Schellhammer said that the matter should be presented to the County Attorney and the Board agreed to table the issue.
The Board also met with Allamakee County Sheriff Clark Mellick, who recommended that the Board approve the contract with Midwest Consultants to conduct a feasibility study for a new jail facility. He said that he had given the contract to County Attorney Jill Kistler for review, but had not heard back from her yet. The Board approved the contract pending Kistler's review.
In other business, the Board approved a contract with Rolling Hills Concrete of Waukon for $56,110.10 for concrete pavement patching. The Board also accepted and placed on file quarterly reports from the Relief Office and Environmental Health and agreed to seek bids for a diesel tank and fuel for the boiler at Makee Manor.