A discussion at the June 2 meeting of the Wadena County Board of two estimates to negotiate union contracts in 2010, ended with the board preparing for a $70,000 bill as opposed to the $25,000 estimate presented by their management consultant.

Mike Gibson, the management consultant who handled the county's 2009 negotiations, estimated that the 2010 negotiations could be accomplished for about $25,000, including his time and the time of the attorney when needed for legal opinions.

The 2009 contracts were negotiated for about $15,000 plus $7,000 for attorneys' fees when Gibson needed to get legal opinions from a labor specialist.

The $70,000 estimate was based on 2007 figures when the county used attorneys for its labor negotiations. The attorneys charged $150 to $200 per hour and the 2007 total was $58,000.

The commissioners and Auditor/Treasurer Char West held an extensive discussion with Gibson about labor negotiations, human resource expertise needed by the county, labor union grievances and what they cost, why commissioners should not participate in direct labor negotiations, the qualifications needed to successfully manage employee problems, etc.

During this discussion, Gibson reminded the board that he had saved the county over $250,000 in 2009 by negotiating agreements with the unions that included a wage freeze. He also had prevented any labor union grievances from being filed in 2008 through his conflict management skills, thus saving the county money there as well.

Gibson had also told the board several months ago that he would only agree to perform services for them if a contract was approved unanimously.

Board Chair Dave Schermerhorn called for a Roll-Call vote on a motion to approve a contract with Gibson for the 2010 negotiations.

Ralph Miller and Rodney Bounds voted no, while the other three commissioners voted yes. Gibson did not accept the contract because the vote was three to two.

The board then instructed Char West to place $70,000 in a special account to be used for labor negotiations and moved on to other business.

Miller and Bounds gave no reasons for opposing the contract with Gibson. But during the five months they have been in office, each man has criticized Gibson. Bounds has made attempts to get the board to assign work to other people instead of to Gibson.

Miller said to Gibson during the June 2 meeting that he had received phone calls asking "when I was going to get rid of you and I told them we're working on it."