The Board of Josephine County Commissioners convened at Anne G. Basker Auditorium in Grants Pass Wednesday, Jan. 22, where the primary agenda items were a collective bargaining agreement and two contracts for personal services related to the fuel tank for Public Works.
At the meeting’s outset, Board Chair Andreas Blech invited JoCo Finance Director Sandy Novak to summarize the collective bargaining agreement between the county and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 75, Local 3694.
“The management team has been bargaining with AFSCME since last summer and we have come up with a tentative agreement,” Novak said. “The bargaining unit approved it and signed their side; we are asking that the Board of County Commissioners go ahead and ratify this.”
Novak added, “The management team is strongly supportive of this agreement.”
When the time came, the agreement failed to pass, with Commissioner Barnett voting in the affirmative while Blech and Commissioner Ron Smith voted no.
Smith said that the county is “probably facing some hard times in the future” and felt the conditions of the union contract will not be feasible. “Asking for more when we have less may mean less for your members,” Smith advised, while Blech added, “I cannot in good faith approve something that we cannot pay for and will have significant financial consequences moving forward.”
According to their website, “AFSCME members provide the vital services that make America happen. We’re the ones who maintain our roads, care for the sick and elderly, make our schools good places to learn, keep our communities safe, and much more.
“With members in hundreds of different occupations – from nurses to corrections officers, child care providers to sanitation workers – AFSCME advocates for fairness in the workplace, excellence in public services, and prosperity and opportunity for all working families.”
Next, the board considered a contract for personal services with M&M Services LLC for the decommissioning of the current underground fuel tank used by Public Works, which has been in use for 35 years, and installation of a new above ground tank.
JoCo Public Works Director Rob Brandes wrote in his report, “Old fuel pumps and tanks are beyond their useful life and are in need of replacement.”
The services rendered by M&M will fetch a price of $191,190, and will be paid for using Fund 46 Public Works Roads and Bridges Reserve funds.
On a related note, a contract was approved with Wally Schmidt Electric, Inc. to install the electrical system for the new above ground fuel tanks, dispensers and canopy. This work will cost $69,720.
“One of (the contracts) is effectively for all the plumbing and gas-related side of things; the other is for all the electrical,” Brandes explained. “Then we will be doing the oil separator and the storm water work in house. Crews have about all the material on hand and on site at this point and the contractors will be providing the last parts, but the tanks are on site sitting there ready to go.”
Brandes noted that the fuel tank upgrade will increase Public Works’ storage capacity from 10,000 to 12,000 gallons. He went on that having a large amount of fuel on-hand would be essential in a “Cascadia-type” natural disaster to support law enforcement and rescue activities.
Barnett confirmed with Brandes that fuel service will not be interrupted throughout the process.
“As we’re getting close to the end we will notify DEQ and EPA that we are getting ready to stop monitoring those underground tanks,” Brandes noted. You do have to monitor them and effectively we’ll then run them dry because we don’t want to pull them out of the ground wet. So we’ll pull them out and that will be transitioning then to the above grounds, (which will be) used at the same time.
“I suspect the biggest wrinkle will just be flipping over all the cloud-based and electronic tracking stuff but we’re ready and willing to do it by pen and paper for a week if we have to.”
During requests and comments from citizens, former commissioner John West argued that the county is no longer bound by its charter to support the local library. As one of his last acts in office, West made a successful motion to terminate the county’s lease of the library building in order to gain leverage in a potential renegotiation. This sparked concern among community members that the library would be evicted and soon forced to shut down operations, culminating in a protest outside the county courthouse.
“In 2006, the taxpayers of Josephine County voted on a county library district 42% yes, 57% no,” West recounted. “The taxpayers were loud and clear and did not want to fund a library anymore.”
The former commissioner argued that in 2017 when the Josephine Community Library District was formed, the Librarians no longer met the definition of a county library because the district does not encompass the entire county, and therefore the county government was relieved of its charter requirement to financially support the library.
Barnett decried the backlash against the board due to the library lease, saying their concerns are unwarranted.
“I said this last week very clearly, “Barnett remarked.” Nobody’s evicting the library. Nobody said they don’t support the library. So this has got to stop, okay? If you read the landlord agreement… all we’re asking is for them to come to the table to talk – that is a hopeful start with a new board and I welcome that. That’s going to happen for our attorneys, we look for a positive outcome and nobody’s saying they’re getting rid of the library so please stop that.”
Blech did not acknowledge that the library’s lease had been terminated, but seconded Barnett’s hopes for the negotiation of a new lease. Blech was on a sabbatical from the board when West, Barnett and Smith voted 3-0 for the termination, as his term filling the seat of former commissioner Dan DeYoung had ended but his appointment to soon-to-be ex-commissioner West’s seat had yet to occur.
“I would just like to point out that the library is a tenant of the county and the library has a lease,” Blech said. “I’ve been personally involved in, and I’m not exaggerating, probably close to 100 commercial leases in my professional life. Leases are binding contract and the county is to be held into that contract, just as the library is.
“I believe the previous board before I was here, brought it to the attention of the tenant that the lease is coming up and it is not unusual for a tenant and a landlord to begin negotiating a lease, especially one that has historic context, months if not half a year or more in advance and that’s all we’re asking for is the tenant to meet with us to start with some negotiations.”