Shawnee County approves $200K in raises

About 750 Shawnee County employees will get raises next year, for an estimated cost of $580,000, after recent actions by the commission.

That leaves less than $100,000 in the commission's budgeted pot for raises for the remaining 195 county employees with outstanding wage contracts.

The Shawnee County Commission on Thursday approved a one-step increase for each of its approximately 300 classified and unclassified employees. The move is expected to cost about $200,000.

The employees range from first-line supervisors to deputy directors, said human resources manager Jon Thummel.

"They're in every single department of the county, and in every different fund as well," he told commissioners.

Each employee also will receive an additional personal day, Thummel said.

Last month, the commission approved raises for 450 employees represented by the Teamsters Local 696, for an estimated cost of $380,000. The union represents staff in clerical, corrections, health, public works and parks and recreation positions.

The commission has designated $679,339 of the 2015 budget to go toward wage increases.

The county, Thummel said, continues to negotiate wage contracts with three unions:

- The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 3, which represents 85 rank and file deputies,

- The Communications Workers of America, which represents about 25 dispatch employees, and

- The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents about 85 solid waste employees.

Thummel estimated about 20 classified employees had maxed out on their steps and consequently won't see a raise this year. Each employee group has a number of employees who already have maxed out, he said, and more will join them if the county doesn't approve adding steps into the contract.

The commission Thursday also formally adopted the $120,280 master plan for the Parks and Recreation Department.

Adopting the 142-page plan will guide the development of the county's parks and recreation department for 10 years, department director John Knight wrote in the memorandum.

Some of the top recommendations from the report included: connecting Shawnee County's trail system; improving recovery costs; and creating a countywide special parks district that would have the power to levy a tax to support parks and recreation, instead of requiring Shawnee County to cover those costs.

Another recommendation is to add an outdoor aquatic center in southwest Shawnee County, which Commissioner Bob Archer identified as his priority going forward. That part of the county has been without a parks and recreation presence since April 2013, he said, when Crestview Pool was closed.

Commissioners on Thursday were complimentary of the master plan, because it can be used in everyday situations for the department and can serve as a model for other departments.

Commissioner Kevin Cook suggested other departments, including the commission, look into developing their own master plans.

An online version of the master plan is available at http:// parks.snco.us/DocumentCenter/View/1100.

The commission also:

- Selected Cochran Head Vick & Co., P.A., as its auditor for this calendar year. The county will pay the firm a total of $94,400 for its audits of the county and its health agency -- the same amount as last year. In 2012, the firm received $105,787.

- Approved a request from the Shawnee County Jail to issue a request for qualifications for an architect to design a plan for the roughly $3.5 million in repairs and updates needed in the jail kitchen.

- Approved a four-year contract with Aramark Correctional Services, LLC, to provide commissary services for inmates and juveniles.

- Approved releasing a community corrections vehicle to State Farm insurance, for which the county will receive $3,340.24. The vehicle was totaled in an accident Aug. 20, director Ed O'Rear said.