Dear COBA Members;

Last Friday evening (St. Patrick's Day) at 6:30pm, Capt. Donohue emailed a directive from Cmsr. Sposato directing that inmates in NUMC would be moved to the 18th floor and that the post coverage would mirror the 2017 "7th Floor Staffing Agreement" between the County and COBA.

First and foremost, initiating these move after hours on a Friday is bad business.

An age old trick, but nonsense nonetheless.

The County claims that this post coverage mirrors our current agreement

for the 7th floor but provides greater security on the 18th floor because it is a locked area. So why was there an issue?

The main issue among others, is that the 7th floor Agreement is for the 7th floor "only", due to specific facts as agreed upon by then Sheriff Sposato in 2017

and also signed off by Vera Fludd when she was Sheriff.

When NUMC took possession of the 7th floor during Covid, jail inmates were

moved to the 11th floor and the inmate to officer ratio reverted back to 2 officers for every inmate. Had they moved the inmates last Friday to the 7th floor

they could reinstitute the reduced staffing agreement and been in compliance with our contract. They did not. They moved them instead to the 18th floor among other "tweaks", in violation of the standing agreement.

The 7th floor MOU states clearly that any change in location or layout of these posts in NUMC must be renegotiated with COBA and that "ALL OTHER POSTS OUTSIDE THE SECURE CONFINES OF THE CORRECTIONAL FACILITY WILL BE STAFFED BY A 2-1 OFFICER TO INMATE RATIO."

No such negotiations took place nor was prior notice given before these moves occurred on Friday.

It is the Union's position that the County is in violation of the NUMC 7th floor staffing agreement dated 2017. After several discussions attempting to rectify this issue over the weekend, the county did not comply with our demand to abide by the agreement

regarding staffing at NUMC.

As such, today COBA filed a Class Action Grievance to force the County to comply, along with a request for a Temporary Restraining Order in Supreme Court

to stop this change until the Arbitration can be held.

The hearing for the TRO will be held tomorrow in State Supreme Court in Mineola.

I will keep you all apprised of developments as they occur.

Brian Sullivan, COBA President