Good News Items

Moose Lake/Willow River

MCF-WR/ML has been chosen to pilot the electronic posting, bidding and awarding. This began on October 27, 2006.

MCF-WR/ML K-9 team received the professional achievement award at MCA on 10-26-06.

St. Cloud

We worked to change the start time for Operations Control Center. This was a positive change that greatly assists with early morning switch out.

The Union requested e-mail access from home for to be able to communicate with members. This was approved.

We agreed to post meeting minutes on the Intranet.

Union requested that we post jobs early when an employee is on a long term leave prior to retirement. This would give a new staff time to learn the job prior to the actual start date. Management agreed that in key positions we will try to do this.

Union requested that when a Sergeant is on a long term leave, we replace them with a utility relief staff who is the same person as much as possible. We agreed that consistency is important and will do this as much as possible.

As Sergeant positions come open we are reviewing all that have every weekend off to assess if that is necessary. Recently an every weekend position that was open was changed to every other weekend. The truck gate position that has every weekend off is coming open and the Union requested that it remain that way. Management agreed.

Oak Park Heights

Clear bag initiative implemented in September. Staff were professional during the implementation phase as we worked through a number of issues that surfaced afterward.  There is good compliance and suggestions for improvement continue to be forwarded and reviewed. 

Good meeting with AFSCME regarding multiple occupancy in Cx 8/TCU.  Although we do not agree on the interpretation of the statute language, we were able to discuss rationally.  AFSCME membership in TCU provided good input on location of multiple occupancy rooms, which was reviewed and approved. 

Lino Lakes

Uniforms Unlimited now provides both Carhart and Dickie brand clothing (off-whites) for our staff painters. The facility will provide the initial issue and then the painters can purchase from their accounts similar to other uniform staff.

Faribault

The Military Reintegration Committee is working on establishing quarterly communication (notes and facility updates) to staff who are deployed. The committee is also working on ways to support their families as well as planning on how we as an employer can assist these staff when they return to work.

MCF-FRB has received approval to conduct a year long pilot project in Food Services. The project will increase offender food service worker's base pay to $ .50, and provide an opportunity for 20% pre-advanced pay and 10% advanced pay for food service workers. We will track associated costs and measure retention levels to determine if a higher salary assists in retaining food service workers.

The Workforce Development Committee has partnered with the local Faribault Workforce Center, for the purpose of promoting, publicizing and generating local and diverse interest in the many positions that the facility will be hiring due to the expansion. The Workforce Center has suggested that we link with their Minnesota Job Bank, which is a website that can be accessed by those seeking employment to view available jobs throughout the State as listed on DOER. An informational announcement and brochures will be included in an Army National and Air Force Guard publication to assist people returning from the military in finding jobs.

K-9 USPCA (United States Police Canine Association) National Competition was held in St. Paul last month. Our Captains watched the suspect search competition and it was very impressive. Using scent only, each dog had to find a suspect hidden in one of six boxes. The difficulty is that the dog must differentiate between the "live box" (where the suspect is currently hiding) and the "hot box" (where the suspect was hiding a short time ago). Our FRB K-9's as well as our other DOC K-9 teams scored very well and found the live suspect in each and every case.

Rush City

At 10/19 L/M meeting we agreed on a consistent process for filling temporary Sergeant vacancies. In past, different processes have been used. Agreement will provide consistency and eliminate confusion. Temporary Sgt vacancies will be offered to existing Sgts for possible reassignment. After initial reassignment, remaining vacancy will be filled with a WOOC CO2.

Eric Langworthy presented the request from staff to start an Honor Guard at MCF-Rush City in the event of a staff death. Warden Feneis would like to see a proposal regarding this. Lt. Dorsey will organize a committee and present a proposal.

Warden Feneis passed out a draft proposal of revisions to DOC Policy 103.130 “Firearms Eligibility”. He will be discussing the proposed revisions at the next Warden’s meeting. There was discussion regarding work posts and firearms eligibility. Labor indicated support for the proposed policy changes.

Shakopee

A subcommittee of labor and management representatives devised a set of by laws for more orderly and efficient meetings and minutes review.

DOC Wide

The MN-DOC sent a team of 5 K-9's to nationals in St.Paul that professionally represented the MN-DOC with top team members placing 4th & 21st overall out of 118 K-9 teams.