The Mineral County sheriff’s department finally came to an agreement with the county commissioners last Friday. Putting to rest summer-long negotiations over pay and vacation hours.

“Everybody is relieved. They’ve been without a contract since June 2015 and negotiations have been ongoing since before that. Everyone is ready for a break,” said Shawn Fontaine of Teamsters Local Union No. 2. “Workers are satisfied and there isn’t an impression that it was all for nothing. Gains were made and we will see the long term effects of it and how relationships look in the future.”

Fontaine also noted that there is a better understanding of how each side works and he hopes to improve relationships with the county in the future.

“We certainly are not looking for another strike in the future,” he said.

Sheriff’s deputies, dispatchers and detention officers went on strike on Memorial Day. Ten days later, they returned to work under the agreement that both parties would come to the table and negotiate terms for the new contract.

A state mediator was brought in from the Montana Department of Labor’s Board of Personal Appeals, Bill Smith, to help with negotiations. He came out twice in June and once in July to help get a contract agreement pulled together that both sides would accept.

Facing serious budget shortfalls, commissioners were unable to give striking employees the pay raise they had demanded. Their original offer of 50 cents an hour for employees making $10 or more an hour, and 70 cents for those making under $10 was finally accepted in the final contract agreement.

What employees received was a change in how overtime pay is calculated. In the old contract, overtime was paid based on 80 hours worked. The new contract is based on 40 hours. Employees also wanted vacation hours included in the weekly calculation for overtime pay. This point was finally dropped by union workers in order to get the contract signed.

Mineral County Commissioner, Roman Zylawy said that they are also relieved that the contract has been signed. He also feels there should be better understanding on both sides in future negotiations. They had never worked with Fontaine before and he said they tried to remain honest and straight forward throughout the process.

“We weren’t trying to hide anything,” Zylawy said, “we weren’t hiding a pot of money.”

He cited budget shortfalls, and unintended miscalculation of funds as reasons they were unable to give employees higher salary increases.

“We just need more money, we need to make the math work,” he said.

Raises will be made retroactive from July 1, 2015. Initially, commissioners said the deadline to receive retroactive pay would be off the table as of July 1, 2016 since it was the start of the new fiscal year.

In a press release sent out Friday, Fontaine thanked the community for their support through these times. “The out pouring of support, verbal and material, show how the citizens of Mineral County truly care about these people as their friends, family and neighbors.”

Meanwhile, commissioners met last week with department heads to try and find ways to cut another $120,000 from the budget. Overall, the county has been faced with a shortfall of approximately $400,000 or about one-fourth of the total county budget. The final budget will be adopted on September 1.

In July, five full-time positions and a half-time deputy attorney’s position were laid off in order to help balance the budget. Since then, one emergency dispatcher has quit due to stress and so the laid off employee returned to fill the vacant position. According to emergency dispatcher and strike captain, Patti Curtin, the pool of six dispatchers has been staffed by just four people for the past three weeks. In a previous interview, she said that they were all getting a lot of overtime.

Also, Adam Cole, an investigator and probation officer for the county, was a part of the group who were laid off. He filed papers on July 8, to bring a lawsuit against the county for wrongful termination.