Association’s bargaining committee proposal

Membership;
The board would like to thank all of you for your continued support and patience during the past few months. The department has gone thru a lot of changes since the beginning of the year. I would personally like to thank all of you for maintaining a professional and positive attitude during these months. There are many issues and concerns the Association is currently addressing with the Sheriff. The Association and Sheriff have a good working relationship which continues to improve as the months go by.

On Sept. 3rd, commissioners Anna Perez, Willie Gandara, the County Auditor, County Attorney and the County HR contacted the Association and asked EPCSOA membership to make some salary concessions. The County requested that the membership give up 2.9 million dollars in salary concessions for fiscal year 2010.

The Association’s bargaining committee, made up Kevin Quinn, Robert Vasquez, Gabriel Bustamante, Federico Castillo, Brian Houston and Ron DeLord from CLEAT, came up with a proposal that it presented to the County. The Association offered to assist the county in saving 1.2 million dollars in return for a 2 year extension of the Articles of Agreement between the County and the EPCSOA. The Association would do this by asking its members to forego the COLA’s in FY 2010 which is (1.5%) in October 2009 and (1.5%) in April 2010. Officers will still continue to receive their step increase and all other monies that they get now under the contract.

The County accepted the Association’s offer on Sept14, 2009 during a regular county meeting. The board members and I have been going around informing the membership how this will have an impact on their future. The membership has the final word on this issue and only you can decide if this is a fair offer. The vote to ratify the amendment to the Articles of Agreement will be on Sept 29 during our Executive board elections.
Remember this only to amendment to the contract. The board has not opened our contract and cannot do so without membership approval. If you have any questions about the offer please feel free to contact me at the office or e-mail me.




Jose G. Marrufo Jr.
President-El Paso CountySheriff’s Officers Association