Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Personnel topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Koochiching County approves seasonal hires, pay adjustments and union contracts
Summary
The Koochiching County Board approved posting summer seasonal positions, ratified corrections and deputies union contracts covering 2025–2027, and adopted temporary wage increases and special-schedule agreements intended to improve hiring and retention.
The Koochiching County Board of Commissioners on March 11 approved several personnel measures aimed at easing seasonal staffing shortages and ratified negotiated contracts with law-enforcement-related bargaining units.
The board voted to post three temporary summer student highway worker positions that typically run from Memorial Day to Labor Day and to post two temporary summer transfer-station laborer positions for the county transfer station. The board also approved a backfill posting for a full-time/part-time highway labor position.
The board accepted recommendations from the county personnel committee to raise temporary transport driver pay and adjust wage ranges for unskilled and skilled temporary workers. The changes were presented as effective beginning April 21. Commissioners said the increases are intended to help the county recruit and retain seasonal and short-term staff.
Separately the board ratified a multi-year contract with the corrections bargaining unit (identified in materials as LELS 102). The settlement includes housekeeping updates to comply with state law changes, recognition of Juneteenth as a paid holiday, negotiated shift-differential increases for overnight work and a longevity component for corrections employees (additional percentage increases at 5, 10 and 15 years). The corrections agreement includes wage increases scheduled across 2025–2027.
The board also approved the deputies’ contract with similar disciplinary-process clarifications and step increases, including a longevity provision after 15 years. Both bargaining-unit agreements included related special-schedule agreements covering scheduled employees and overtime/waiver language.
Board members thanked negotiators and county staff for completing what several commissioners described as a “tedious” bargaining cycle. No formal vote tallies were recorded in the verbal record during the meeting; motions were made and carried by voice vote.
The personnel changes and ratified contracts will be incorporated into county payroll and personnel procedures by county staff.
