FARMINGTON — Franklin County commissioners voted 2-1 Tuesday to authorize Director of Dispatch Raymond Meldrum to sign a new work schedule for dispatchers. The new schedule will require full-time dispatchers to work 12-hour shifts rather than a mix of different hours.

Meldrum had not signed the agreement because the contract is between commissioners and the union, Meldrum said. He supported the change, he said.

Under the new schedule all eight full-time dispatchers would get two hours overtime each week, union shop steward Aaron Gordon told commissioners.

Currently the schedule is a 30-day rotation with dispatchers working a series of 12-, 10-, six- and four-hour shifts, Gordon said.

That left two shifts open that needed to be filled.

Of 104 shifts, only 20 were filled by employees who did not have to be paid overtime, he said.

The other shifts were filled with employees who were on an upper level of the pay scale.

Dispatchers agreed to keep part-time employees up to date on their dispatching skills by using them to cover someone calling in sick, Gordon said.

The new schedule would also eliminate the amount of sick leave that is currently taken, he said.

Commission Chairman Fred Hardy of New Sharon said he didn’t agree with making the change because the dispatchers’ contract was not reopened.

“I think it is improper to discuss this without the contract being opened,” Hardy said.

It should be done during negotiations, he said.

You cannot foresee everything that may come up after negotiations, Teamster 340 representative Alan Churchill said. The dispatchers were in favor of this, he said, and they believe it is safer for county residents.

“I would agree with you if we had a dissenting voice,” he said.

He suggested it could be implemented as a pilot program and be brought up again during negotiations.

Commissioner Gary McGrane said he was going to suggest the same thing.

That way commissioners and dispatchers will know if the scheduling works, McGrane of Jay said.

“These union contracts, I thought, were cast in stone unless you open the contract,” Hardy said.

It is basically an addendum or sidebar, McGrane said.

“I think it is a good idea,” he said.

Dispatch Supervisor Melinda Caton said the new schedule will give the county full-time experienced dispatchers 24 hours a day.

In other business, commissioners voted unanimously to hire Tara Hamlin of Strong as a part-time clerical worker at the jail. Richard Biegaj, the current clerical worker, is retiring.

Hamlin was a full-time corrections officer at the jail before the state changed the Franklin County Detention Center to a 72-hour holding facility, jail Manager Doug Blauvelt said. She is currently a full-time corrections officer at Somerset County jail and part-time with the Farmington jail, he said.

“She has the skills we are looking for,” he said.

She also knows the Information Management Corp. records-keeping program the jail uses and the county’s Sheriff’s Department dispatch center will use in the future.

The position is 20 hours a week, Blauvelt said. She will be paid $12.30 an hour for the entry-level position.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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