President's Message
January 2008
POSTING OF COUNTY EMPLOYEE NAMES & PAY RATES
I have just been made aware of the posting of all County employees’ names and rate of pay by the Sun and Daily Bulletin newspapers on their websites. This was done without any advance notice given to SEBA by the Sheriff’s Department or the County even though they have had the information since October.
It is unfortunate, but there have been two recent Supreme Court rulings that allow for the release of this information. They are the: International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, Local 21, AFL-CIO et al., v. The Superior Court of Alameda County; and Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training v. The Superior Court of Sacramento County. Refer to the SEBA website for a link to both decisions.
There are some exceptions to the rulings that our law firm is looking into, but the information is already on the newspaper’s websites. We are looking at the possibility of having the information removed or blocked.
When I spoke with the Executive Staff of the Sheriff’s Department about this issue, they did not understand how big a deal this was. A phone call letting me know this was going to happen would have gone a long way by allowing me to prepare the membership for the release of information that is really nobody else’s business.
Cooperation goes both ways. I have strived to deal with issues at the lowest level in an attempt to maintain a good working relationship with the Department. This is the second time in two months where a quick phone call could have resolved problems before they developed.
I hope we can all work together as a team on these types of issues in the future. I want to thank all of the members who called or emailed me about this. Without your input it would be hard to gauge the necessary response from the Association!
PORAC CONFERENCE RECAP
The 55th Annual Conference of Members for the Peace Officers’ Research Association of California has come and gone. It has been another memorable year representing you as Executive Committee Member for Region IV.
During the Conference, Ron Cottingham was re-elected as President, Mike Durant was re-elected as Vice-President and Russell Reinhart was re-elected as Treasurer. There were no challengers for the three positions up for election. All three individuals have been doing an outstanding job during the past year and I would not expect any change in their work ethics for the year 2008.
All of the training classes were well attended and the feedback was very positive. The Ivory Webb presentation was the most attended workshop. As a side note, I am in the process of setting up the same presentation in the San Bernardino area at no cost to our members. More information will be forthcoming when a date and location are decided on.
There were several Bylaw changes that were made by the entire Conference of Members. The most important change to the Bylaws had to do with a $1.00 increase in PORAC dues that will be used to defend our retirement benefits and other related initiatives geared toward taking away our hard earned benefits. A letter from PORAC is being printed in this publication explaining the increase at length and what the monies will be used for. The vote on this Bylaw change was unanimous.
SEBA BYLAW UPDATES
During our 6th Annual Board of Directors Conference, there were several Bylaw updates that were discussed. Several months earlier, a Bylaw Committee was formed to review our Bylaws and make sure they were up to date.
The Bylaw Committee brought forth the proposed changes to the full Board at the conference. There were discussions about several of the proposed changes with re-writes being completed on the ones the Board had issues with. The revised Bylaw changes were submitted to all Board members before the October Board meeting for their complete review. During the October Board meeting, the Bylaws were discussed with no changes being recommended by anyone present at the Board meeting. After that meeting, I did not receive any calls about issues with the Bylaw changes.
The final version was mailed to the entire Board prior to the November Board meeting for final review. During the Board meeting, the revised Bylaws were brought up for discussion and final approval. The vote was unanimous to accept the changes in the Bylaws. Prior to the meeting, I did not receive any calls from anyone having concerns with the revised Bylaws.
Shortly after the meeting, I was contacted by a Board member who was unable to attend the Board meeting due to a work conflict. I was told there were several members who were unhappy with the change in the Bylaws having to do with qualifications for candidates desiring to run for President of the Association. The only change that was made requires a candidate to have served on the Board of Directors for one year prior to the filing deadline. (Refer to Bylaw Section 4.B) The Board of Directors mindset on this issue had to do with making sure a person running for the office of President had some type of experience with the Association before he or she became President.
I placed this issue on the December agenda so it could be discussed again. The Board of Directors decided that no change was necessary with the revised Bylaws and the changes made were for the betterment of the Association.
After the December Board meeting, another Board member spoke with me about another issue with the revised Bylaws. This issue dealt with the removal of the Roll Call Vote provision. (Refer to Section 7.B of the old Bylaws) This Bylaw change had been discussed at the Conference in September. The Board felt this Bylaw section was an unnecessary provision and would only slow down the process of conducting business due to items being able to be postponed until the next meeting by a simple majority vote of the quorum. These changes have been noted in all of the Board Agenda mailings since that time. Prior to my discussion with this Board member no one had contacted me about concerns with this Bylaw provision.
It has now been suggested by this Board member that the concerned members who did not contact SEBA about this issue prior to the final approval would “opt out” of the Political Action Fund due to their dissatisfaction, without giving SEBA the common courtesy of allowing the Board of Directors to re-visit this topic now that their concerns are known. Diverting monies earmarked for our Political Action Funds to our Charity Funds only hurts the entire Association membership. That money is what makes SEBA strong and opens doors for communication with individuals who make important decisions on our working conditions, salaries, benefits and legislative issues. This is the same money that prevented Governor Schwarzenegger, Keith Richman and others from ripping our retirement benefits away from us two years ago. And just in case you have not noticed, those attacks have not gone away. Those people are still out there trying to take those benefits away from us that were so hard fought for through the negotiation process. This Bylaw revision will be on the January Agenda for discussion. I welcome anyone interested in this matter or other issues to call me or show up at the Board meeting. The meetings are open to all SEBA members.
Lets all try to work as a team and not against one another. Personal issues need to be set aside for the betterment of the entire Association. Let your Board of Directors do their job and keep them informed of important issues you might have so they in turn can bring those issues to the full Board of Directors if needed.
SPECIALIZED PEACE OFFICER NEGOTIATIONS
The Negotiations Team for the Specialized Peace Officer Unit has been formed. The negotiators will be: Andy Avery, Kendall Taylor, John Hurst, Stu Osborne, William Forester and Doug Feil. All of these individuals have had Basic Collective Bargaining training or they will be sent to that training during the next couple of months.
Surveys will be mailed to the address on file at SEBA during the month of January. Make sure your address is updated so you will receive the most current information about the upcoming negotiations.
And as always, last but not least, ”Stay safe out there.”
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