Del Norte Employees Association President Norma Williams accused county supervisors on Tuesday of being stingy when it comes to increasing salaries for rank and file employees. | Screenshot

Norma Williams said she didn’t begrudge anyone a raise, but she criticized a proposal to increase department managers’ pay by 5 percent.

Williams, president of the Del Norte County Employees Association SEIU 1021, accused the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday of being “pretty damn stingy” when it comes to increasing pay for rank and file employees — those who do the bulk of the work and interact with the public the most, she says.

“We’re the ones the public sees … when they walk up to a reception desk over at Health and Human Services when they’re coming in for aid or when they go to Behavioral Health when they’re in a mental health crisis,” she said. “Far be it for me to say no to those higher up than us. However, they’re not the ones doing what we’re doing and, yet, when it comes to negotiating for salary increases, we’re being told to wait because of a salary analysis, which we all know is going to tell you the same thing — we’re underpaid.”

Roughly three weeks after SEIU 1021 members confronted the Board saying they were overworked and underpaid, four county supervisors approved a 5 percent raise for appointed and elected department heads, assistant department heads, deputy branch directors, confidential employees and the undersheriff.

Though the proposed pay increase was one of six resolutions that went before the Board on Tuesday, it was the only one they voted on. Chairman Dean Wilson asked his colleagues to table the resolutions, saying more negotiation was needed.

According to the county’s staff report, the resolutions address vacation accrual for most of the employees mentioned except for the elected department heads. This includes setting or maintaining a vacation accrual cap as well as to allow employees to potentially sell a portion of vacation hours.

On Tuesday, District 1 Supervisor Darrin Short said the resolutions regarding the ability to sell vacation hours was new to him. Both he and his colleague Valerie Starkey supported Wilson’s decision to move forward with the 5 percent raise and table the other items.

Starkey said the piece regarding vacation hours was new to her as well.

“Perhaps we need to go back to the drawing board and give the right direction like we do with all labor negotiations in closed session,” she said. “While I’m supportive of the 5 percent right now — I don’t want to delay that — there are other issues within the bodies of this resolution that we need to rehash prior to them coming here.”

District 4 Supervisor Joey Borges was absent.

Deborah Muchmore, of Muchmore Than Consulting, has been representing Del Norte County in negotiations with its unrepresented employees since August. The Board hired Muchmore after it had already approved wage increases for Road Division workers in July. 

On Oct. 23, the Board of Supervisors approved a plan from Del Norte County Sheriff Garrett Scott to freeze or eliminate vacant positions in an effort to increase pay and make working for his office more desirable.

At that same meeting, however, Williams and several SEIU 1021 members complained about being asked to wait on the outcome of a wage analysis before double-digit raises would be considered. Williams cited large caseloads and unanswered phone calls, Redwood Voice Community News’s Aisling Bludworth reported. Because of low wages, many Del Norte employees qualified for the same benefits they were providing to the public, Williams told supervisors on Oct. 23.

On Tuesday, Williams said the county would likely begin losing employees after the first of the year.

“If you keep telling us to wait, you’re going to see more employees leave, and that’s going to hurt the people we serve,” she said. “If you want to give $20,000, $30,000, $40,000 increases to others and yet tell us that you are not willing to give double-digit increases to us? Seriously? And you wonder why people are leaving. You’re wondering why you can’t hire a person, why you can’t even get a person to show up to a job interview.”

Starkey took issue with Williams’ comment, though she said she couldn’t speak much to salary matters being discussed in closed session. While she acknowledged the changes in staffing and salaries within the DNSO and the Road Division, Starkey said the county did make an offer to the Del Norte County Employees Association.

Those issues are still being negotiated between the county and the union, however, Starkey told Redwood Voice.

“I can’t talk about the details, but I can say the Board of Supervisors has been consistent with regard to this interim decision being made prior to the comp analysis coming out,” she said. “When there’s other pressing information that could alter the way we’re looking at wages and what not, we sometimes will ask for a year or six months’ continuation on the contract with that slight increase, that COLA of 5 percent. Until we have all the information in front of us, we can’t give you the moon, but we’re willing to do this.”

The compensation analysis is expected to be finished in March, according to Starkey. That analysis will likely include a comparison of wages in counties that are similar to Del Norte, she said.