Earlier this month, the Oneida County Board went through a 10 hour session to determine whether Veteran Service Officer Tammy Walters should be dismissed. Following the marathon session, Walters was not dismissed for eight allegations, but will face possible discipline on two of them.
But the lingering effects of that tension-filled day came to the surface again Tuesday when the board met in regular session. The board considered a new pay grade for the county lawyer and Human Resources Director, as recommended by a study done last year.
Supervisor Tom Rudolph said he would oppose any increase because he felt those two people were the ones intimately involved in the recent controversial hearing. That statement opened up an hour-long debate on the reclassifications. The governing board committee felt the changes were necessary as both jobs are unique. Labor Relations Committee Chair Ted Cushing says that committee is in the process of fixing problems that led to the Walter's hearing..
".....we are going to be in the process, along with submitting ideas to Administration(committee) of correcting things that occurred prior to that hearing and during that hearing so hopefully they don't ever happen again..."
Human Resources Director Lisa Charbarneau said the county had been looking at other options..
".....recommended with the original study that was implemented in March. The Labor Relations committee recommended at that point in time to put (the positions) on the side because the county was considering a county administrator...."
Supervisor Alan Van Raalte proposed looking at each classification separately, but that was defeated. A divided board defeated the reclassifications by a 10-9 vote.
