New labor agreements approved by six county bargaining units represented by the Teamsters and by AFSCME. The Teamsters Public and Law Enforcement Employees' Union Local 320 Sheriff's Supervisors unit has not reached agreement with the county. The county and the Teamsters will go to state mediation to try to resolve their differences.
New labor agreements approved by six county bargaining units represented by the Teamsters and by AFSCME. The Teamsters Public and Law Enforcement Employees' Union Local 320 Sheriff's Supervisors unit has not reached agreement with the county. The county and the Teamsters will go to state mediation to try to resolve their differences.
New labor agreements approved by six county bargaining units represented by the Teamsters and by AFSCME. The Teamsters Public and Law Enforcement Employees' Union Local 320 Sheriff's Supervisors unit has not reached agreement with the county. The county and the Teamsters will go to state mediation to try to resolve their differences.
Todd County Negotiations Team presented the county board with six labor agreements approved by six county bargaining units represented by the Teamsters and by AFSCME: Teamsters Public and Law Enforcement Employees Union Local 320 Courthouse Employees, Teamsters Public and Law Enforcement Employees Union Local 320 Sheriff s Supervisors, Teamsters Public and Law Enforcement Employees Union Local 320 Jailer/Dispatchers, AFSCME Local 3525 Public Works, AFSCME Local 3168 Social Services, and AFSCME Local 3525 Public Health. The Teamsters Public and Law Enforcement Employees Union Local 320 Sheriff s Deputies unit has not reached agreement with the county. This group and the county will proceed to state mediation to try to resolve their differences. The new labor agreements are for 2014 only. The changes they contain include a reduction in the amount of compensatory time off that an employee can save up and be paid for when he or she retires, Affordable Care Act language added requiring parties to negotiate if the county faces any penalties or fines under the ACA for being a Cadillac Plan, a cap in the pay- ment of health insurance premi- ums for retirees hired before 2007, a 2% Cost of Living Tue. April 22 Partly Cloudy 60/42 Wed. April 23 Rain/Wind 50/40 Thur. April 24 Showers 48/36 Fri. April 25 Showers 43/25 Sat. April 26 Partly Cloudy 45/29 Sun. April 27 Showers 42/31 WEEKLY WEATHER REPORT A community newspaper serving Browerville, MN and surrounding areas. USPS 067-560 Thursday, April 124, 2014 Volume 98; Number 42 www.bladepublishing.net staff@bladepublishing.net Todd County Deputy Sheriff, Steve Och has announced his candidacy to run for the position of Todd County Sheriff. Och is a 1989 graduate of Criminal Justice program at Alexandria Community College. He has been a licensed Peace Officer in the state of Minnesota for 25 years; 24 years within Todd County. Twelve years on the city of Long Prairie Police Department and 15 years with the Todd County Sheriff s Office. Steve has been married to his wife, Jackie, for 15 years. Steve and Jackie along with their daughters; Mackenzie, 13, and Megan,11, live in Round Prairie Township. I will exhibit strong leadership and make certain the Sheriff s Office remains aggressive with all drug enforcement efforts and be fiscally responsible while providing the most effective services for the tax payers of Todd County, stated Och. Meth use is increasing in Central Minnesota Clarissa Holdings LLC begins sawmill conctruction By Rin Porter A recent series of high-profile arrests for methamphetamine pos- session in Todd and Wadena Counties has brought this drug back to the attention of residents. Use of meth dropped signifi- cantly in 2007 and 2008 after laws limiting the availability of a cold medicine pseudoephedrine went into effect. Pseudoephedrine was being purchased in large quantities as a meth ingredient by people who were manufacturing meth in homemade labs in Todd, Wadena, and Morrison Counties. But in 2009 and 2010, meth use increased again, but not because of meth labs. Instead, meth was being brought into Minnesota from northern Mexico and California by drug smugglers. Law enforcement officers discovered this when routine traffic stops began to reveal large quantities of metham- phetamine in vehi- cles. According to the Drug and Violent Crime Task Forces 2012 Annual Report, Despite the statewide reduction in the manufacture of methamphetamine, it continues to be the greatest concern for many of the task force regions in the state. Increasingly, large quantities of high grade methampheta- mine are being traf- ficked into the area from the south- west U.S. and Mexico. (Minnesota Dept of Public Safety) In 2011, 39.6% of the drug seizures in the state involved methamphetamine, according to the same report. Jane Maxwell, a senior research scientists at the University of Texas at Austin (UT), said in a UT publication, We need to keep focused on methamphetamine as a drug that demands and needs seri- ous treatment. She also said she was not surprised to see meth use rebounding, because that is the cyclical pattern she and other sci- entists have seen during the decades that meth has been used. (www.utexas.edu/news/2012/01/24/ m e t h a m p h e t a m i n e <http://www.utexas.edu/news/2012 /01/24/methamphetamine>) In its monthly newsletter, the Todd County Sheriffs Department reported in February 2014 that drug arrests (for all drugs) fell from 70 in 2012 to 63 in 2013. However, according to informa- tion supplied by Sheriff s Department Records Supervisor Rich Pommier on April 14, there has already been 29 arrests for possession or sale of meth in 2014 an enormous increase. These figures include seven peo- ple arrested by the Central Minnesota Violent Offender Task Force (CMV)TF) and the West Central Minnesota Drug Task Force and Todd County Sheriffs Deputies in Hewitt on March 3; and two people arrested early in the morning of March 4 by CMVOTF, Staples Police, and Todd County Sheriffs Deputies at the Staples Train Depot. On April 8, agents of CMVOTF and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) arrested a Long Prairie man for sale of 56 grams of meth in Coborns parking lot in Long Prairie. The man had previously sold 185 grams of meth to undercover agents during a long investigation. In addition to these arrests, the West Central Narcotics Task Force, the BCA, and Alexandria police arrested five people in Douglas County after undercover agents bought 140.7 grams of meth Continued on page 12. Continued on page 12. Clarissa Holdings LLC, owner Michael Frey, applied for a CUP to operate a sawmill from the sight of the old Todd County Garage located just north of Browerville on US 71, including construction of a 80 x 160 ft building with attached 24 x 48 addi- tion for offices and a 50 x 60 foot concrete slab for a loading area. Deputy Och announces candidcy for Sheriff Todd County Deputy Sheriff, Steve Och. in 2009 and 2010, meth use increased again, but not because of meth labs. Instead, meth was being brought into Minnesota from northern Mexico and California by drug smugglers. Todd Board approves one-year labor agreements with six of its seven bargaining units