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Sheriff, deputies at an impasse

Gap health insurance and the use of an outside arbitrator are the sticking points.

By CAMILLE C. SPENCER
Published April 3, 2007

After a month of deadlocked contract negotiations with Sheriff Bob White, Pasco's sheriff's deputies on Monday declared an impasse.

They created a Web site, www.supportyourdeputies.com, to publicly air their grievances. They also plan to send brochures to local business owners in hopes of stirring up support.

The deputies' gripes against White - which include their desire for gap health insurance coverage for retirees and the right to appeal disciplinary decisions to an outside arbitrator - are detailed on the Web site.

So is their disdain toward the sheriff.

"Sheriff White will not afford his own deputies the basic benefits he enjoyed as a law enforcement officer," the site reads.

It concludes: "This is about the Sheriff against his Deputies, not the Deputies against the Sheriff."

Paul Noeske, staff representative with the Fraternal Order of Police, which represents the deputies at the bargaining table, said the union sent a letter last week to the sheriff's attorney saying deputies were about to go public with their grievances.

The sheriff's attorney, Wayne Helsby, did not return a call Monday for comment. Sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll referred all questions in this matter to Helsby.

In an interview last month, White listed other perks he has provided to the deputies, including better extra-duty pay, new cars for detectives and new gym equipment. But he declined to say why he wouldn't grant the requests for gap insurance or an outside appeal of disciplinary decisions.

"This is between my deputies and I," White said last month. "Just because we've disagreed on a few issues doesn't mean we've had a falling-out."

With the declaration of an impasse, however, the deputies plan to take their grievances to the public, both through the Web site and brochures that will be sent to local businesses.

"We just hope to come to an agreement," Noeske said. "We expect to have a contract like other places do."

Noeske said if White and the union don't come to an agreement by April 14, a hearing will be held before a magistrate. The magistrate will then make a nonbinding recommendation on the terms of the contract, Noeske said.

If the two parties still can't agree, then White may impose a contract on the deputies, said Matt Puckett, deputy executive director for the Florida Police Benevolent Association in Tallahassee.

"Right now," he said, "the sheriff holds all the cards."

[Last modified April 2, 2007, 23:19:00]