FARMINGTON – After meeting in executive session Tuesday with a Teamsters Union representative, Franklin County commissioners reversed a previous decision, giving Sheriff’s Department employees the prevailing federal mileage rate.
The change in rate will not affect deputies, whose rate is specifically designated at 27.5 cents per mile in their current contract.
The prevailing federal rate, currently 37.5 cents per mile, will be paid to dispatchers and corrections officers who occasionally use their personal vehicles to drive to training sessions, according to Sheriff Dennis Pike. The rate will be retroactive to June 1, which is when Franklin County raised the mileage reimbursement rate for other county employees, he said.
Deputies, having cruisers, rarely use their personal vehicles for work purposes and will not be eligible for the increased rate, since the contract is specific about their mileage rate.
“We had a meeting of the minds,” said Business Agent Kenneth L. Eaton of Teamsters Local 340. The union represents public and private sector employees in the state and currently negotiates 230 contracts statewide. The union negotiates for public safety, construction and trucking employees, among others.
“The parties agreed to comply with the terms and conditions of the collective bargaining agreement,” said Eaton who did not elaborate on the executive session discussion.
In addition, Eaton said, commissioners agreed to begin talks on a successor contract in another executive session at 2 p.m. Aug. 31. The Sheriff Department’s contract expires Dec. 31.
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