Kane coroner race may affect union contract, staffing
The six employees in the Kane County Coroner's office are the only county workers with an unsettled union contract. Candidates who want to lead the office have different ideas about how to properly manage that contract and the hours of those employees.
Incumbent Rob Russell said his deputies should become certified by the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators. And the county board should take a vote on the long-pending union contract.
The contract is a first for employees of the coroner's office. It attempts to address issues with employees getting paid a base salary with benefits as well as overtime and per diems. Two of the deputy coroners nearly doubled their base salaries with overtime and per diem payments in 2014.
Russell said the new contract will remedy that. The contract has not moved forward because some county officials have concerns about the base salaries, which increase by an average of 18.2 percent in the deal.
Russell said he's reduced the staff by one employee since he came into office and made efforts to reduce overtime.
"We still have less employees than any agency around our size," Russell said at a forum this week. "We are the most efficient we could possibly be at this point."
His opponents beg to differ.
Dr. Bob Tiballi is Russell's challenger in the Republican primary. He said coroner employees shouldn't take home paychecks of more than $100,000. Half the coroner's coroner staff eclipsed that total last year.
And there's no reason an office of seven employees needs six county vehicles, he said.
"The average number of cases is about 1.6 decedents per day," Tiballi said. "Maybe they could actually just use a vehicle twice in one day. Why are we offering a union contract with a 19 percent raise? I think there's a lot that we could do."
Democratic challengers are equally critical.
John Shoemaker said the salary structure of the office lacks a realistic footing. Some of the deputies have more than 20 years of experience, but that shouldn't guarantee a big paycheck for any government employee, he said.
"You don't just give raises to somebody," Shoemaker said. "We should set a baseline, and that's what the salaries should be based off. It's not saying, 'Oh, we've got to give him a raise because he's been here 20 years.' I don't think anybody has the entitlement to a position."
As far as the union contract, Shoemaker said the county should not wait another year to resolve that issue.
"The unknowns of that contract would really be a big hindrance to anyone who takes over," Shoemaker said.
Tao Martinez said any union contract must include an end to the per diems for employees.
"It's double dipping," he said. "You can't have both."
He would change scheduling to reflect the 24-hour nature of the business. Instead of having employees on call and getting paid to go home and sleep, Martinez said he would establish three 8-hour shifts. He would focus the manpower of the office to late nights and early mornings when more gang activity and questionable deaths tend to occur.
"I see all the other budgets for all the agencies, and they are comparable (to Kane County)," Martinez said. "I don't look up. I look down. When your neighbor brings a BMW home, you don't look at it and say, 'I wish I had that.' You learn to live with what you have."
How much should coroner deputies make?
Total coroner employee compensation* in 2015
1. $107,874 - Anna Mae Renwick (Deputy Coroner)
2. $102,254 - Karen Engh (Deputy Coroner)
3. $100,474 - Loren Carrera (Chief Deputy Coroner)
4. $88,704 - Derick Hayden (Deputy Coroner)
5. $88,332 - Lisa Gilbert (Deputy Coroner)
6. $37,845 - Sonia Lopez (Office Manager/Spanish Interpreter)
*Total compensation includes base salary plus health, dental, IMRF, FICA, overtime and per diem payments made by county
Source: Kane County Finance Department