NAVIGATION

Recently, a rumor has been circulating that the Executive Board received the arbitrator's ruling and that we are "sitting on it".  This is simply not true.

You can rest assured that the OCDSA Executive Board will immediately notify the membership via this web site of any movement on the 312 arbitration ruling.  The current EB is committed to open communication with the membership.

If you have any questions concerning the status of the 312 arbitration, I urge you to contact an EB member in order to receive the most up-to-date information.

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Legionnaires‘ disease

 

As a result of the recent news that Legionnaires‘ disease was found inside the Madison Heights Police Department, Major Smith and Major Snarey are compiling a list of the names of deputies who have recently been inside the Madison Heights Police Department station. The members will be told to fill out On the Job Injury Forms, and they will be sent for testing.

Ken Hiller

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There have been several rumors circulating recently. Here are the facts as of today.

 

Potential layoffs:

I spoke with Undersheriff McCabe, and he provided me with the following information reference layoffs:

-         The Sheriff’s Office has already eliminated 51 of the 59 positions that must be eliminated by 10-01-09.

-         The Sheriff’s Office still needs to reduce the total number of deputy positions by 8 before 10-1-09. It is possible that this will be achieved through a combination of retirements and employees leaving to accept jobs elsewhere.

-         Between 10-1-09 and 10-1-10, the Sheriff’s Office needs to eliminate an additional 40 positions.

-         The additional two million dollar budget cut (for the Sheriff’s Office) that the County Executive is about to officially announce has not been factored into the above position eliminations.

 

2.5% Pay Cut:

This issue is for Fiscal Year 2010, which starts on Oct. 1, 2009. Since we have not even started negotiations for Fiscal Year 2010, the County has not brought up the issue yet. We will deal with it when we start negotiations for that Fiscal Year.

 

Crash Review Board:

If you are involved in a crash while operating a County owned vehicle, and you feel that there are circumstances that would help the Crash Review Board to make a fully informed decision as to whether or not your crash was “avoidable”, please point those circumstances out to the command officer who handles your crash. Members also have the option to send a memo to Sgt. Lambourn that details any special circumstances involved in their crash.

 

Ken Hiller

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A benefit concert will be held on July 18th at the Hayloft in Mt. Clemens, with the proceeds going to assist the family of recently deceased Madison Heights Police Officer Ryan Settlemoir.  Frequency 54 will headline the show, with other bands to be named as plans are finalized.  The cost of admission is $10, and the show begins at 8 p.m.

The Hayloft is located at 140 N. Main Street in Mt. Clemens.  T-shirts are being designed and will be available for purchase soon.  Check back for more information as it becomes available.

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Ryan Settlemoir, a 28 year old member of the Madison Heights Police Department, died June 12 from complications following the onset of flu-like symptoms.  Many members of the department suffered from similar symptoms, and the Health Department suspected an outbreak of either H1N1 or Legionaires Disease.

Ryan leaves behind a wife and 3 small children.  The OCDSA Children's Benevolent Fund has gotten involved and many members of our department have suggested fundraisers to assist the family in their time of need.

Donations can be sent to: 

Ryan Settlemoir's Children's College Fund     People's State Bank 1800 E. 12 Mile Rd Madison Heights, MI 48071.

Anyone interested in helping out with a fundraiser, please contact an Executive Board member.  Our union hall will be donated to host the event.

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A Corrective/Court Services fact-finding meeting was held today held at the Executive Office Building. Brian Partogian, Chris Cadotte and I attended the meeting, along with Chad Engelhardt and Jim Moore. Several issues were discussed, with tentative agreements being reached which will ensure that our members will still have the opportunity to attend the Police Academy, and that vacant positions on the road will be filled by members from Corrective/Court Services. You will recall that the County’s final offer to Corrective/Court Services in 2008 removed the guarantee to attend the Police Academy and called for the Road Patrol to be filled by outside hiring.

 

The OCDSA and the County agreed to an accelerated fact-finding for the remaining issues. There will be one day of hearings in July (date to be announced when finalized), and limited supported documents. The fact-finder will also use the briefs that were submitted to Arbitrator Sugerman, and information contained in Arbitrator Sugerman’s 312 decision when he writes his fact-finding report.

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I was coming back from paying my respects to Bill and his family when I was flooded by fond memories of Bill and the times we spent together. I had known Bill for at least thirty years and we became friends while working at the Sheriff’s Dept. He along with Jim Bates and Gordon Wyrick help finish the lower level of my home. Bill attended my wedding and I had the pleasure of watching his family grow up. He always had a smile for everyone, and for the many years I worked with him at circuit court it was more like fun than work. We played hard and worked hard and I will miss him dearly. Let’s celebrate his life rather than mourn his passing.

Mike Edwin

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A message to the members from Vice President Cadotte:

The Cell Extraction Team recently conducted training with members of SRT at Camp Grayling. The CET team would like to say thank you to Sgt Yeiser, Sgt Henao, Randy Huston, Al Campbell, Mark Hickson and Jeff Cardinal for their time, patience and knowledge that was given to the team. The CET members would like to express their gratitude to Sheriff Bouchard for the training. Sheriff Bouchard presented the team with new t-shirts with a new saying that all should take head to "Excellence Achieved Through Teamwork." Sheriff Bouchard was right in the mix of the training along with the team. The team walked away from this training with a lot of new techniques and fresh ideas to make Corrections a safer work place. A thank you also goes out to the CET team for their professional attitude and eagerness to learn.

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Attorney L. Rodger Webb no longer represents the Oakland County Deputy Sheriff's Association in any of its legal matters.  The Association's legal representation consists of Jim Moore and Chad Engelhardt. 

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If anyone has any comments about NAVITUS, please contact any board member, preferably via email, so we have a record of it.  Most importantly...if you have had any issues regarding the Rx program.  All of the EB members email addresses are posted on the EB page of the web site, along with our phone numbers.  The change in Rx coverage has some beneficial aspects to it but there are also some pit falls.  The EB needs input from the membership as a whole.

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