Management Items:

1. Justice Reinvestment Officers (JRO): Fact sheet distributed. Click to view

A. Special Assignments by geographic region - 8 regions that capture the areas that offenders are returning to. The two day training was completed on February 21st and 22nd.

B. Vision for the position is to provide courts with credible information speaking to the suitability of offenders for supervised release. This is an opportunity to help blur the lines between parole and the institutions. When an offender leaves prison there should be a cleaner transition between release and the community.

C. There will be 4 regional trainings through March where Director and Deputy Dir's will discuss new tier system, unit management, and blurring the lines between parole and institutions. Officers are invited to attend the meetings.

D. JRO incumbent will NOT be guaranteed to return to their original unit, but they are guaranteed to return to their headquarters and position. The project is a work in progress, so at this time it is unclear exactly where the JROs will return to at the completion of the assignment.

E. Union raised the question: Why were these positions canvassed so quickly while it's taking so long to recall laid off officers? Response: Management doesn't have control over recall process, and so can't dictate the speed of the recalls. Canvass for these JRO spots is an internal process, so the agency was able to speed it up in order to make the process more seamless.

2. Corrections currently has a budget deficit of $50 million. The Division of Parole and Community Services is NOT expected to help fill the deficit with more layoffs. No 1199 positions will be impacted. Exempt layoffs and reorganization discussed.

3. Voluntary use of time clocks at 770 W. Broad (Central Office):

A. One clock is already in HR

B. Proposal is to install 2 more clocks at entry points of building. Purpose is not to put people on a time clock. 770 W. Broad staff is moving to a self-serve Kronos timekeeping program. Eventually all staff will use self-serve timekeeping; time clock is meant to make officers' interface with Kronos easier: the punch made on the time clock will appear in the Kronos when staff access the program on the computer. If they prefer, officers working in Central Office may continue to enter start time into computer manually.

C. For the foreseeable future the use of time clock will be voluntary, but eventually all field offices will have clocks. No time frame for future rollout of clocks yet, and agency doesn't want the officers' schedules to be dictated by a time clock - it should continue to be a schedule worked out between supervisor and officer based on work needs.

D. Potential problems of overtime, inconsistent application of policy, and discipline discussed. Management urged officers to bring such problems to attention of delegates, present for discussion at RPC, or bring to attention of Central Office staff. If someone is being forced to work off the clock or to inaccurately report actual hours worked, incident report should be filed.

II. Union Items

1. Vacancy reports:

Positions for canvass: 2 Cleveland, 5 Chillicothe, 2 Akron, either 2 or 3 for Columbus.

2. Next audits will focus on over-supervision instead of under-supervision. Agency stands behind EBP and use of instrument to predict future violations and offenses. Moderate to high-risk offenders are where supervision should be focused. Chin stats are one factor in determining when to fill vacancies or where to put PN's, but court appearances, geography, and multiple other factors are used to determine when/where to fill positions.

3. EBP scorecard data entry is time-consuming for PO's; what remedies exist to fix the problem? Management explained that July 1, EBP scorecard will go away because at that point all the offenders will be in ORAS. Other meetings are scheduled to find ways to make system entries more streamlined. Scorecard isn't meant to reflect all the work an officer is doing, it's only designed to capture EBP data. Eventually FOT will be transformed so it will be web-based, no more tabs, other improvements. Will take about a year to move away from FOT, but will eventually be able to work on a laptop, desktop, or tablet. At that point FOT and ORAS systems will communicate with one another so multiple data entry won't be necessary.

4. Duty weapons in need of repair: Glocks are failing on the range due to worn out or broken parts. Weapons aren't being taken apart and inspected, and officers who are armorers aren't being funded to recertify, which prevents inspection in the field. Institutions will each have Glock 40 armorers, so if a weapon is malfunctioning, take it to an institution. In the meantime, there is a plan to move toward annual inspection of each weapon by armorers, but the inspection will not include complete teardown of the gun. * Mike Jackson will check into the feasibility of having PO armorers recertified in each region so they can do a complete teardown inspection at the firing range.

5. ORAS:

A. Reassessment doesn't require you to go through the entire interview - only question what has changed since the original assessment. Can be on a separate sheet of paper, or can use different colored ink on the original sheet.

B. In some regions, support staff are doing geographic data portion of ORAS, in others OSN's are doing complete ORAS interview.

C. Terminations - if an offender is due to be terminated, it isn't necessary to do the entire interview packet. Only do the reassessment that's necessary. *Mike Jackson will follow up with the regional administrators to make sure that they're not requiring the PO to do the entire packet again.

6. Hold orders for halfway house staff: Stems from legislation requiring either arrest authority being delegated to halfway house, or the parole authority being on call for arrests. If halfway house staff are arresting offenders without first consulting parole, it should be reported. The process allowing PO's to sign hold orders has been vetted by the agency's legal department, and is not a liability for the officers.

7. Body armor has been ordered for each PO, and if an officer is waiting for the new vest to arrive, the officer should continue to wear the old one - the "expiration date" is merely the date the manufacturer assigned to the vest for warranty purposes only. Police departments purchase used vests.

8. Who are the new training officers? Mike Jackson will get a list together to provide to the members, but if there's a specific question, contact Central Office.

9. New vehicles have been ordered by the division for officer use. They will be distributed to the regions and retrofitted locally. They'll be allocated based on need.

10. Next APC meeting will be held May 10, 2012.

Adjourned

COLUMBUS, OH - Today, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) District 1199 announces the ratification of an agreement with the State of Ohio that would extend the current collective bargaining agreement until 2015.

The following is a statement released by Secretary-Treasurer Al Bacon on behalf of the Service Employees International Union, District 1199:

"Today, our members have voiced their support for the new three-year contract with the State of Ohio. This agreement is a continuation of the shared sacrifice in the spirit of cooperation demonstrated by our members for the past decade."

"As we move forward, we call upon our elected leaders to reinvest in our cities and towns by increasing revenue, closing unnecessary tax loopholes and supporting the values of the middle class."

"Ohio's public employees are committed to building better communities for everyone by delivering quality and efficient public services. We want to work with our fellow citizens, elected officials and managers toward an economy that is built to last for all Ohioans."

Click here for a complete list of Voting Locations and Times.

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The first Agency Professional Committee meeting between 1199 delegates and DP&CS will be held on February 16, 2012 at the 1199 union hall in Columbus, Ohio. In the meantime, a few important questions related to the canvass and recall process have arisen, and since the facts inherent to the questions are relevant to officers across the state, 1199 requested that the agency provide a written response to them. The questions and answers are reprinted below. While question number 3 is specific to Miami County, the response applies to problems the agency has had recalling officers to vacancies statewide.

1. When new Senior Officer positions are posted statewide, will former senior officers who bumped into regular PO spots have to re-apply for those positions, or as former Seniors, will they simply have the right to canvass into them (even though they're no longer technically Seniors)? Parole Officers who were bumped from Senior positions will not be eligible to canvass to available Senior assignments until they become Senior Parole Officers again through recall or Article 30 hiring.


2. It appears that DAS is taking an inordinately long time to process the personnel actions from the canvass. Is there anything DRC can do to speed up the process? There has been no hold up processing the personnel actions for canvassing. The process itself is time consuming, mostly because we have to post for 10 days and then process the "bids," but DAS is not holding up any personnel actions.


3. Is the Miami County position that wasn't bid on going to be filled through recall? (It sounds as though the position has been sitting vacant for a while, and the members are wondering when recall will begin.) If there is a candidate listed for recall, yes the Miami positions will be filled through recall. It is taking a very long time to receive a recall candidate (1 at a time) back to DRC Personnel from DAS. Once that occurs, Personnel has to exhaust a process of contacting the recall candidate, which includes calling and sending a certified letter. Again, one candidate at a time. This can be a time consuming process. This issue has been addressed with DAS. We were told they are currently processing layoffs for other agencies as well as our own and will send the requested lists as soon as they can. We want to fill these positions as soon as possible.


4. Do you have an update you can give us regarding the agency's budget given the issues from last fall? We have no news on how the economy and the State's budget will impact our operations beyond what was announced in March. DRC continues to monitor the budget and the various reorganization and cost savings initiatives put in place by the agency since March of 2011. This has been and will be a continuous process throughout the biennium. As we have said in previous APC meetings, we can make no promises moving forward about the budget's operational impact on us, but as of right now there are no planned cuts impacting APA operations or staff.

If you have questions or issues that should be discussed at the February APC meeting, please email them to an 1199 APA delegate in your region, or to the 1199 Administrative Organizer, Leah Davis, at ldavis@seiu1199.org.

Members of the State of Ohio Chapter,

Many of you have noticed that on your most recent check stub another 80 hours of CSD's has appeared. SEIU District 1199 contacted the Office of Collective Bargaining this morning and they have reassured us that this is an OAKS programming error.

Cost savings days are not available to be used and DAS is working with OAKS to correct the issue, and these CSD hours will be disappearing from your paycheck stub soon.

If anyone has any questions or concerns please feel free to contact your organizer.

On May 16, 2011, representatives of SEIU/District 1199 met with Senator Scott Oelslager to discuss the union's concerns with aspects of the House version of the state operating budget before the Senate Finance Committee. Senator Oelslager said he plans to offer amendments to the DP&CS budget cuts within the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections budget.

District 1199 has requested restoration of the funding within the GRF 503321 Line (Parole and Community Operations) of the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections Budget for FY 2012-13, and the reinstatement of the PSI and OBI writing responsibility to the Adult Parole Authority.

Senator Oelslager shares District 1199's concern that this budget item will have drastic, negative consequences for parole services in Ohio, and will continue to work with the union to draft an amendment that protects the safety of both parole officers and Ohio's citizens.

The amendments are currently being drafted and Senator Oelslager is working within his caucus to have this amendment added to the Senate's substitute budget bill.

Amendments to Ohio's State Budget were due to the Senate Finance Committee Chairman's office on Thursday, May 26 and the committee may vote on the budget as early as Tuesday, May 31. Later in the week, the full Senate will vote on the budget.

Please call your senator today! You can call 1.800.282.0253 or Click here to find your state senator and his/her email address.

Tell your Senator you are concerned that the state budget relies on proposals that hurt Ohio's ability to create jobs and deep cuts to education, human services and local governments will harm Ohio families. Ohio needs solutions beyond cuts to programs and services to make the state a great place to live and work.

When you call your senator, consider the following script:

We cannot balance the budget, create jobs and help families with spending cuts alone. We need revenue, like closing tax loopholes. In order to invest in the public structures businesses and families need high-quality education, a well-trained and healthy workforce, and excellent communities.

By Monday, April 18, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine must report his decision on the suitability of language for petitions to overturn Senate Bill 5.

If DeWine declines the petition language, the petition would have to be rewritten and resubmitted with another thousand signatures. All requirements can be found by clicking here.

Then opponents of SB5 will have until June 29 to file 231,149 valid signatures with the Ohio Secretary of State's office so the referendum to appear on the November ballot in Ohio.

To get involved, go to fightforafaireconomy.org