COUNCIL 2 NEGOTIATIONS have helped save the jobs of nearly 30 Snohomish County Planning and Development Services employees.

The employees, all members of Local 109-e, learned in April that their jobs were on the line.

The reason: A sharper-than-expected drop in building permit applications. The drop was greater than anyone expected as the building industry worsened and permit applications plummeted to about half the level at which they stood during the peak of the building boom in 2005.

The anticipated fall in revenue forced county officials to budget for a shortfall of $4.4 million.

After trimming $1.6 million in discretionary spending and temporary staff, nothing was left to cut but permanent employees, County Director of Planning and Development Services Craig Ladiser told The Everett Herald.

Those whose jobs were threatened included biologists, engineers and planners who process building permits.

But the news was not as bad at the county’s Department of Public Works where road and surface water projects meant work was available. To help complete the work, the department planned to rely on outside consultants to design and review about a third of the road projects, or up to $10 million in spending.

Here was a potential solution. Employees in Planning and Development Services who were threatened with losing their positions had all the skills and qualifications needed to perform the Public Works jobs that were to be given to outside consultants. Why not cut back on the outside consultants, move Planning and Development Services employees to Public Works, and save almost 30 jobs?

But a major hurdle was the protocol and paperwork involved.

Enter Council 2.

“We were optimistic that we could come up with a way to avoid as many layoffs as possible by working with management in an innovative way,” explains James Trefry, Council 2 Staff Representative for Snohomish County.

“We negotiated with the Department of Public Works and found a way to divert the money by creating two separate sets of books.

“We put together a package that would otherwise have gone to the private sector. And it proved to be less expensive than putting the work out to private consultants.

“By doing that, we were able to convince the county to move 26 people over from Planning and Development Services for these projects. In that way, we secured a deal to keep all those people employed.

“They were able to keep their jobs and their seniority and avoid being laid off.”

Trefry thanks those members who spent many hours negotiating with management of both Planning Services and Public Works. They are: Local 109-E President Gerri Delisle, Gary Bontrager, Amy Selia and Dwayne Overholser.

“They worked diligently to keep the waters as calm as they could during the process and transition period,” he says.