ALFRED — Members of the County Patrol Association say they’ll take two issues regarding the distribution of overtime assignments to arbitration after York County Commissioners denied both of them Wednesday evening.

The grievances had earlier been denied by Sheriff William King and County Manager Greg Zinser — the commission was the next step in the process. 

The grievances were heard in open session — under Maine law, petitioners have the right to be heard behind closed doors or in public. Commissioners went into a closed door session to deliberate, emerging after about 30 minutes to render their decision.

Both sides agreed that the issues in the two  grievances came down to an interpretation of Article 14 in the County Patrol Association contract, which addresses how overtime assignments are handled.

The first took place in August, as deputies were responding to an armed robbery at a credit union in Arundel.

Michael Edes, the labor representative for the Fraternal Order of Police, which represents the CPA, pointed out that according to the contract, any available open shifts are to be directed to full-time, off-duty available employees on a rotating list by seniority, in rank.

Edes said the sheriff’s office indicated they needed more personnel to deal with the robbery, and called in a specific individual, rather than consulting the list. Edes said the individual had been tapped as a possible member of a federal task force but as of the time the robbery took place, that had not taken place. He said the worker therefore had no special qualification or assignment that would allow deviation from the seniority list.

“This is an interpretation of what does or doesn’t constitute open and available shifts,” Zinser, the county manager,  told the commissioners.

Edes agreed.

“What constitutes a shift is the issue,” he said.

The second grievance was similar and involved how the sheriff’s office handled checks on sex offenders. Edes told commissioners the sheriff’s office had received federal funds to perform the checks. Edes said like the first instance, there were no special qualifications required to to perform the job. He said two people were chosen to perform the checks and that the seniority list was not consulted.

“We think shift is a broad word that encompasses a detail,” like the task of checking sex offender statuses, conducting a seatbelt detail or escorting a vehicle, Edes said.

Commissioners asked few questions and voted to go into a closed-door session.

Upon emerging, they unanimously voted to deny the first grievance. The second was a 3 to 1 vote for denial, with Commissioner Michael Cote casting the dissenting vote.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.