Some Mahoning County employees getting raises

July 21, 2016 at 12:08a.m.

GREENFORD

The Mahoning County commissioners approved a three-year contract containing three pay raises of 3 percent each for the 73 members of the Mahoning County Sanitary Engineer Employees Union.

The labor agreement essentially merges a two-tier pay schedule that had been in place since 2012 into one schedule and simplifies a payment plan, making it easier for the employees to reach the top of their pay scales, William Coleman, sanitary engineer’s office manager, explained during Tuesday’s commissioners’ meeting in the Green Township Building on Lisbon Road.

During negotiations last year, a 16-step payment plan was modified to a 10-step plan, meaning after completing a 180-day probationary period, an employee could reach the top pay scale in 10 years, Coleman noted.

The union, whose workers already had ratified the agreement, represents mainly treatment-plant operators, maintenance workers, repair personnel, construction and sewer inspectors and lab technicians, he said.

The agreement, which runs from June 1, 2015, to May 31, 2018, resulted in 3 percent raises for union personnel, effective June 1, 2015, Jan. 1 this year and Jan. 1, 2017.

Current union pay ranges from $13.55 per hour for the lowest-paid entry-level waste-treatment plant aide to $29.06 an hour after 10 years for the highest-paid treatment plant supervisor.

The 19 nonunion employees, including supervisors, management personnel, clerical staff and customer-service representatives also will get 3 percent raises, effective on the same dates.

The raises were the first in six years for union and nonunion personnel, Coleman noted.

Also at the session, commissioners rejected the sole bid that had been received last Wednesday for the Meridian Road Concrete Paving Rehabilitation project.

County Engineer Patrick T. Ginnetti noted the bid for the temporary fix on Meridian Road under Interstate 680 was $274,000, which was more than double the engineer’s $115,000 estimate.

The next step will be to re-evaluate the original plan and re-advertise for bids regarding the work, both of which likely will take place in the next few weeks, Ginnetti said.

Commissioners also approved an agreement between the sheriff’s department and Motorola to lease $217,937 worth of new radios.

According to 21 WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner, the department ordered 80 new radios to be used by deputies in Austintown and Boardman.

Audrey Tillis, the commissioners’ executive director, said the new equipment is an upgrade from what each jurisdiction now has.

Tillis added the radios will improve communications and help keep the county and the deputies safe.