Macomb Township

Township, management union agree on contract

By Robert Guttersohn
C & G Staff Writer

» click to enlarge « Photo by Robert Guttersohn Macomb Township Parks and Recreation Director Sal DiCaro, the lead negotiator for the township’s management union, speaks at the Dec. 12 Board of Trustees meeting. Both the union and the township came to an agreement on contract amendments regarding wages and job reclassification and expect board approval of the changes at the Dec. 26 meeting. Photo by Robert Guttersohn Macomb Township Parks and Recreation Director Sal DiCaro, the lead negotiator for the township’s management union, speaks at the Dec. 12 Board of Trustees meeting. Both the union and the township came to an agreement on contract amendments regarding wages and job reclassification and expect board approval of the changes at the Dec. 26 meeting.

MACOMB TOWNSHIP — Less than a month after approving a contract with its hourly workers, the township and the management union came to a tentative agreement last week on wages, compensation and new job classifications.

The ratification of the contract will come up for vote at the Dec. 26 Board of Trustees meeting. Township Clerk Michael Koehs said the agreement only amends the current contract, which expires in 2015.

“We’re on board,” said Sal DiCaro, director of Parks and Recreation and lead negotiator for the union.

Although both sides would not speak in detail because the contract has yet to be ratified, changes to job classification would be comparable to those made to the hourly workers’ contract ratified in November. For example, in that contract, the township added a different classification for its utility workers who are certified to work below ground from those who can only work above ground. Township Clerk Michael Koehs said the township board sought to do something similar with management, which is represented by the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, Local 1917.

“I think we have professionalized the management classification system,” Koehs said.

The wage renegotiations are a scheduled part of the current contract. The board approved opening the contract to add new classifications at its Dec. 12 meeting.

“We’re not saying we’re going to be promoting any individual at this time,” Koehs said. “We’re not saying we’re going to promote someone into it. We might hire from the outside for those new classifications.”

Also at the Dec. 12 meeting, the trustees established a committee to review the township’s hired consultants.

“This is to review their duties and responsibilities and make any recommended changes,” Koehs said.

He said he could not remember the last time the township formed such a committee. “We’ve annually kind of renewed those relationships,” Koehs said. “Now the board wants to look at specific duties and responsibilities.”

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Robert Guttersohn at rguttersohn@candgnews.com or at (586)218-5006.