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Isabella County ratifies tentative agreements with POAM dispatch units, approves 3% wage increase
Summary
The Isabella County Board of Commissioners unanimously ratified tentative agreements with the POAM 911 Dispatch Supervisors and Dispatchers units that include a 3% base wage increase effective Jan. 1, 2025, modest shift-differential raises and added holidays; the board authorized the chair to sign the contracts once finalized.
The Isabella County Board of Commissioners on April 15 unanimously ratified tentative agreements with two POAM (Police Officers Association of Michigan) units representing 911 dispatch staff, approving a 3% base wage increase effective Jan. 1, 2025, and authorizing the board chair to sign amended contract documents once fully executed.
The board approved separate tentative agreements for the POAM 911 Dispatch Supervisors Unit and the POAM 911 Dispatchers Unit. The supervisors’ agreement adds optional compensatory time (up to a 40-hour accrual limit, with cash pay for overtime that would exceed 40 hours), increases the shift differential by $0.05 per hour (from $0.25 to $0.30 effective Jan. 1, 2025, and to $0.35 on Jan. 1, 2026), and recognizes Martin Luther King Jr. Day and a one-half day on Good Friday as paid holidays. Commissioners authorized the board chair to sign the amendment after POAM execution.
The dispatchers’ agreement contains a 3% base wage increase effective Jan. 1, 2025, an economic reopener limited to base wages for 2026 and 2027, a provision allowing year-end cash-out of vacation balances that exceed the maximum accumulation, the same immediate shift-differential increase ($0.25 to $0.30 effective Jan. 1, 2025) and a step to $0.35 on Jan. 1, 2027, and deletion of restrictive compensatory-time-use language that had limited employees’ ability to use earned comp time. The board authorized the chair to sign the final 2025 contract once POAM has fully executed it.
Commissioner Jerry Jaloszynski moved to ratify the agreements; the motion was seconded by Commissioner James Moreno and carried with yeas from Commissioners Tobin Hope, Moreno, Frank Engler, Steve Swaney, Bob Campbell, Steve Weber and Jaloszynski and no nays.
Why it matters: the agreements affect the county’s 911 staffing costs and work rules and set near-term salary adjustments. Negotiated changes to comp-time rules, shift differential and added holidays alter both employee schedules and payroll calculations going forward.
The board also discussed procedural matters related to the closed-session handling of collective-bargaining strategy earlier in the meeting; the record shows the board reviewed and accepted closed-session minutes related to that strategy before ratifying the agreements.
The board did not provide an on-the-record estimate of the total budgetary impact of the wage and benefit changes during the meeting. The contracts were described as tentatively agreed on April 3 and ratified by POAM on April 5, 2025, prior to the board’s April 15 vote. The board’s action authorizes final signatures but did not include additional implementation details or an itemized cost estimate at the meeting.
