MAHONING COUNTY Officials, FOP reach tentative agreement

The FOP is expected to vote on the contract next week.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- After 16 months without a contract, a tentative agreement has been reached between Mahoning County commissioners and the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 141.
Glen Kountz, Local 141 president, said the proposed pact will be presented to the membership for a ratification vote Wednesday. He declined to discuss details of the proposal until after the vote.
The union represents deputies in the sheriff's department.
Joseph Caruso, assistant county administrator, also declined to comment on the proposal. Connie Pierce, human-resources director, said commissioners will have 30 days to either approve or reject the contract once it is ratified by the union.
Kountz said the union's last contract with commissioners expired 16 months ago. The union has been frustrated because commissioners would not send a representative to the bargaining table.
The union actually negotiates its contracts with the sheriff. Commissioners are the appropriating authority, however, and they must approve labor contracts with general fund departments.
Pulled from bargaining
Pierce generally represents commissioners in contract talks. Commissioners, however, pulled Pierce out of all bargaining sessions last year after a controversy arose over a contract with Teamsters at the county engineer's office.
The FOP filed a lawsuit against commissioners last week, saying an agreement they'd signed for housing federal inmates at the county jail violated terms of the union's contract which prohibits outsourcing union work.
Kountz said the issue had been resolved with Sheriff Randall Wellington, but that a contract could not be finalized without commissioners' input. The lawsuit forced them to the bargaining table, he said.
"We did what we had to do," Kountz said, noting that the proposed contract was hammered out with commissioners after two days of negotiating with Pierce.
bjackson@vindy.com