Howe to make courts pitch tomorrow

The city will not do anything about building a much needed new court complex until someone is hurt or killed. What a shame. It seems to me that it would have been better for Councilman Howe if he had advised the entire council of his intensions before trying to do it alone. The full council should have agreed to move forward with this “concept” before a presentation by Councilman Howe is made.

The reason there is not parity between the salaries of City deputies and police officers is because there is not parity between their job responsibilities. Unlike the counties, in the City deputies are not responsible for law enforcement activities. They are not responsible for answering calls for service, working accidents, investigating crimes, traffic enforcement, crime prevention, etc. The police are responsible for those things.
Deputies are responsible for court security, certain prisoner transports, and civil process. Most have not attended the basic law enforcement academy and/or have not met the DCJS training standards for law enforcemnt officers. They attend an abbreviated academy designed for court security and civil process.
The City periodically hires an independent party to conduct a job analysis for all City positions. The last analysis found that the job of police officer involves more responsibilities which require more knowledge, skills and training than the job of deputy sheriff. Since there is not parity in the job responsibilities, there is not parity in the salaries. Over-valuing one position has the effect of under-valuing the other, and vice-versa.
I would like to see all City employees receive long overdue COLA and merit raises. However, the Sheriff’s argument that his deputies salaries should be in parity with police officers is not pursuasive. In fact, it will cause more harm than good. While parity in salaries between deputies and police officers would surely increase morale in his agency, it would also send the message the City under-values the job of police officers. It either means deputies are being compensated for job functions they do not perform, or the police are not being compendated for jon functions they do perform.
I’m sure any department head could convince a council person that the employees in his department should get a raise. The deputies deserve a salary adjustment; just like every other City employee does. However, like the other department heads, the Sheriff should let the job analysis speak for itself and keep the politicking out of payroll.

A point or two of clarification. 1) Council directed, as part of the RFP process for court proposals (which still makes no sense to me), that a plan be put together to deal with court security issues. From Council Minutes–”Councilor Howe moved to amend the resolution to include a closed session to discuss the confidential U.S. Marshall report on courthouse security at the Circuit Court, General District Court, Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court and Council Chambers and to discuss with Sheriff Paul Higgs what has been rectified since the report was issued and to determine a plan of action; motion was seconded by Councilor Ellis. The Howe amendment passed by the following unanimously recorded votes. Ayes (7). Councilors Tomzak, Greenlaw, Devine, Ellis, Howe, Paolucci and Solley. Nays (0). None. ” Councilman Howe and Sheriff Higgs were operating under a directive of the City Council.
2) It should also be pointed out that the Sherriff’s Office budget, to include salaries, is supposed to receive significant state funding. The failure of Richmond to meet their obligations to localities in this, and other areas, has been an ongoing topic of conversation. More so now with all the cuts coming due to the economic downturn. Our state delegation needs to be part of this conversation. It is interesting that localities are expected to meet their obligation while the state is not.

Would someone tell that d***** fool Howe to butt out!