Juvenile center chief outline reforms

Earl Dunlap says he's no union buster. He's just pro-kid.

Dunlap, the transitional administrator of the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, appeared before the county board Wednesday to give an update on his reform efforts at the center since being appointed last year.

Children's advocates basically forced the county to accept Dunlap as the head of the center or face takeover by a federal court. The juvenile center has long been a county patronage haven and the American Civil Liberties Union sued to try to clean it up.

One of the first things Dunlap did was to go to federal court and get collective bargaining agreements there suspended for six months while he tries to get the center in order.

Dunlap told commissioners he did not take the action lightly.

"I'm not a union buster; I don't believe in privatization," he said.

But what he found when he took over was a core group of dedicated employees hamstrung by a persistent group of troublemakers determined to protect their fiefdom.

"When we walk into a building at three in the morning and see staff sound asleep, the response is often, 'Prove it. It's your word against mine,' " said Dunlap.

Employees angry at now having to answer to supervisors began not showing up for work to deliberately understaff the facility, a condition that triggered union regulations requiring children to be locked in their rooms instead of participating in recreation or activities.

In the first three months of 2008, 715 sick days have been taken, 17 employees are on leave, 74 are on full or partial Family and Medical Leave Act and 45 people have filed for leave due to being injured on the job, Dunlap said.

Those figures come from a facility that has roughly 500 employees.

"It creates an awful lot of dysfunction," said Dunlap. "So we went to federal court."

Dunlap says he estimates it will take a total of two years to turn the facility around. He has been interviewing dozens of candidates for counseling and administration jobs, but has yet to hire any, in part because he wants to make sure he hires the right people, he said.

Wednesday's hearing was called by Commissioner Joseph Mario Moreno. Moreno's sister was an administrator at the center who was ousted when Dunlap came aboard.