Crook County approves outside labor counsel, citing need for fresh direction in union talks

The Crook County governing body voted to retain attorney Steven Schubach to help with labor negotiations for the sheriff’s deputies and sergeants associations, approving an amendment authorizing the county manager to sign an engagement letter.

The recommendation came after staff and sheriff’s office representatives met with Schubach. Speaker 3 told the board, “The current attorney's hourly rate is $295 an hour. The new attorney is $335 an hour,” and cautioned there would be additional start‑up costs to bring the attorney up to speed. Speaker 3 said the sheriff’s office and county staff believe the new counsel could produce a “better product” in negotiations.

In discussion, Speaker 5 acknowledged the county's long relationship with the current labor attorney, identified in the discussion as “Bruce,” and said Bruce had done adequate work for many years but that the county faces a different opponent organization now and may need new direction. Speaker 4 moved to appoint Schubach and Speaker 2 seconded; Speaker 1’s suggested amendment to authorize the county manager to sign the engagement letter was adopted. Vocal responses of “Aye” were recorded and the presiding speaker declared the motion approved.

The motion instructs staff to engage Schubach’s firm (referenced in the discussion as prhlaborlaw.com) to provide legal consultation on labor relations issues for county negotiations with the deputies and sergeants associations. The board did not provide further detail in the meeting about the length of the engagement beyond the authorization to sign an engagement letter.

Next steps: staff will finalize an engagement letter with the selected attorney and proceed with representation in upcoming negotiations; no additional timeline for the completion of those negotiations was provided in the meeting.