Boone County Animal Services employees file grievance
1:00s
By Chris Green
Rockford Register Star
Posted Jul 16, 2020 at 10:47 AM
BELVIDERE — The three Boone County Animal Services employees who resigned without explanation last week were targets of harassment from the county’s administration office, their union representative says.
The three and only county Animal Services employees have remained mum about their sudden departures on Friday, but Joe Adrian of Teamsters Local 325 spoke on their behalf Wednesday and said the resignations stem from poor interactions with the county’s temporary administrator, Austin Edmondson.
“They were being bullied, harassed and threatened,” he said.
Adrian was one of several people to speak up for the three employees during Wednesday’s County Board meeting, and he continued to do so outside the meeting.
He said he has known the employees for the past six or seven years but does not personally know the administrator.
“I don’t know what his agenda is,” he said. “I can only guess they are looking to outsource the work.”
Adrian did not give any examples of bullying, harassment or threats by Edmondson other than to say, “He just watched over them all the time.”
Former Administrator Ken Terrinoni suffered a stroke in April 2019 and took an extended leave of absence before retiring April 30. Edmondson was hired as the county’s temporary administrator in June 2019.
He said a grievance was filed Tuesday by the Teamsters on behalf of the employees.
“Until that grievance is completed, I think it’s best for all parties to let that process work,” he said.
Adrian described the trio as employees who routinely went above and beyond, being on call 24/7. One of the employees built the pens for the animals at the Squaw Prairie Road shelter, rigged up the plumbing to provide water to the cages and rebuilt one of the animal services vehicles, he said. The employees even brought lawnmowers from home to cut the grass at the facility.
“If they have to replace these people, they’ll never find individuals with a better work ethic.”
Adrian also said the employees’ grievance is not about compensation.
“They have a contract,” he said. “They are already due for a raise. They just want to be left alone.”
Outside of praise for the three employees from a string of people during the public comment portion of the meeting, there was no discussion Wednesday by County Board members about the fate of Animal Services, a service by state law that counties are required to provide.
After the meeting, County Board Chairman Karl Johnson said, “It’s all a work in progress, and we hope to know more tomorrow.”
Chris Green: cgreen@rrstar.com; @chrisfgreen
Above is from:
************************************************************************************************************************
If you are interested in petition for reinstating the animal services employees.
Reinstate Boone County animal services staff ASAP!
Brandy Semonich started this petition to Administrator and board Boone County Board
Last friday July 10th, our BCAS staff all walked out of the job they love. Why?
So, yesterday I attended the Boone County IL board meeting. I needed to hear for myself why all of the staff of Boone County Animal Services all quit on the same day. No more rumors, I wanted the truth. It turns out that according to the union representative who spoke during public comment, these staff members, who work tirelessly and many times as volunteers (not allowed overtime per the budget) were being bullied, and harassed by Boone County's acting administrator. The previous administrator had health issues that forced him to be home. This guy came in about a year ago, and then about a month or so ago, decided he was going to make some changes apparently! These changes affect all of us in this county. In order to make his changes, he needed staff to be cooperative little soldiers and not care that this guy wanted to ruin what they worked so hard to make what it is today. If they didn't comply, fired. I got this all from the union rep at last night's meeting. Years, many many years, this staff has had No formal complaints against staff, no written or documented disciplinary action, and a majority happy community, working symbiotically with Animal Care and Control. Imagine that! So now because of the harassment and bullying by the ACTING county administrator (which means temporary) they all felt so pressured they walked away. I have filed a FOIA to get copies of the reasons they resigned.
I know it must have been bad, because around 3 years ago, I was speaking with Justin during a routine inspection of my licensed boarding and grooming kennel. He told me he had put in for a performance raise. This is something government employees can ask for based on a solid performance history. That was denied. I was floored as I had seen justin all that spring at numerous events (off the clock and alone) promoting community awareness and educating our children about proper animal care. I had witnessed him giving back to the community out of his own pocket with giveaways for children. I couldn't understand why the raise was denied, especially since the county budgets for 3 officers and only 2 were staffed.
So I asked justin why he would want to continue working for the county, when the pay was so low, the hours were so long and unpredictable, and the reward was people being mad all the time for him doing his job. What he responded touched me so deeply, and sticks with me. He told me he is this job. This job is not a job to him. This is his whole existence. He doesn't care if he has to get off work at animal control and go to a second job to make ends meet. He loves being able to help animals. Be the one who cares for that dog, who is quarantined for biting after the owners neglected to be sure it was updated on its shots. He loved helping that hoard of cats that knew nothing but cruelty at the hands of a hoarder. The happiness on adopters faces when they found that best friend, and even more so the relief of an owner who lost a pet, because of a disaster or just because that pet got loose! He told me he planned to retire from animal services as an old man. He was proud to be daddy who works at animal control to his children. All those hours he missed with his children growing, and hardly seeing their dad because he was working (many times on holidays and late eveninhs) all worth it to him.
So the point of this is to share with you just ONE part of a story. I can give numerous examples of how Roger went above and beyond for people I know. Just to help! When the 2008 tornado ripped my families farm apart and displaced the resident animals, these men were there, way beyond the call of duty. Helping to put together temporary pens for animals. When my irish wolfhound was stolen by a person in Boone County after the tornado, Roger went with me door to door to find my dog! I helped Justin recently with a loose pony on route 173. How scary is that?!?!?! Very very busy road and a pony that had been evading police for hours, and Justin was there to see the little guy got caught, and returned to its owner, ON HIS DAY OFF!
So what can we do, they resigned right? We can demand that our board and administration refuses the resignation and reinstates any of these staff members who are willing to return. We can show that as a community we stand behind our Animal Control. We need to stand together for this, as it will take no less than 10,000 signatures to get them to listen. Bodies in seats at the board meetings would be great too, but more so taking just this second to sign this petition, will speak volumes. This post is public so feel free to share! You may need to copy and paste my words, I'm not sure. Please ask all of your friends and family to sign. If you know someone who does not have internet, let me know and I will be happy to bring a paper petition right to their home! Together we can make a wrong a right. There is no HR to complain to for these guys. They are at the mercy of this interim administrator, and if he wins this battle, what other big changes will he make at the expense of the citizens of Boone County!
According to the union representative at tonight's board meeting, our interim Administrator thought it would be appropriate to throw his weight by bullying, harassing and otherwise mistreating our animal services staff. As a result all of them resigned. Our community NEEDS these people!
They have been the most important building block of our community for more than a decade. They have turned this shelter from high kill to almost NO kill. They work with school children, needy families, you name it. I'd like your signature to show your support of them being reinstated to thier jobs. We do not want our county board to accept the resignation, we want them to STAND UP and say NO!
please join me in support of this staff! Thank you! You may also wish to write letters of support to our current county board members, and I encourage you to do so by email or direct mail.
Petition available at: https://www.change.org/p/boone-county-board-reinstate-boone-county-animal-services-staff-asap?source_location=topic_page
