Support guild gets updated contract

Published 4:45 pm Monday, March 23, 2026

PORT ANGELES — Clallam County has reached a collective bargaining agreement with the Sheriff’s Support Services Guild.

County commissioners were told about the agreement during their work session on Monday.

The agreement, scheduled to be approved by commissioners on March 31, is for April 1 through Dec. 31, 2027.

Through the agreement, guild members will get a 6.5 percent pay increase along with a 1.5 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in July.

“Something to note on it is, this group, the last time they got their COLA increase was January of 2024, and so that 6.5 percent is really a fair contract in moving forward with this group so that we can get them moving forward and back in alignment with that salary schedule and get them up to par with the rest of individuals on those COLA increases,” said Bonnie Dennler, director of Human Resources & Risk Management.

During the meeting, commissioners also heard an update on the county’s criminal justice contracts with the cities of Port Angeles and Sequim. The 10-year contracts the county had with the cities concluded Dec. 31 and the entities are working to execute new contracts during an interim extension that is scheduled to end June 30.

“For both the city of Port Angeles and the city of Sequim, we were kind of in the throes of really focusing on what I call the first two buckets of services that we provide, and that is prosecution and public defense,” county Administrator Todd Mielke said.

One issue that comes up often during the conversations is code enforcement, Mielke said. The county provides municipal code enforcement in Port Angeles but does not provide regular code enforcement.

Another issue is the basis of how the county charges for services and what its cost methodology is.

“When law enforcement takes an action, they make a referral to the prosecutor’s office saying we’re forwarding this case to you for review and determination to file charges,” Mielke said. “And so we have done all of our analysis based on the amount of referrals, and there are four buckets of referrals that come into the prosecutor’s office for district court.”

Those come from the Sheriff’s Office, the city of Sequim, the city of Port Angeles and then other agencies such as Fish and Wildlife of the park service, Mielke said.

“So what we find is a lot of the work gets front-loaded,” he said. “One is a lot of work gets front-loaded in the review process before you ever make a determination to file charges.”

That review process includes two to three hours to review every hour of body camera footage, the written report for the case, evidence documentation and then what charge is filed.

If evidence needs to be sent to the state crime lab, that can cause between a 10- to 20-month delay on the case, and that affects when charges can be filed.

If the county is seeing 40 percent of the caseload from an entity, such as from one of the cities, then the county assumes that entity is using 40 percent of its services, and that’s how the services are charged.

“What has been communicated is a desire by the city of Port Angeles that more cases go beyond just referral and review,” Mielke said.

That request is going to be a challenge for the contract negotiations, he said.

Port Angeles City Manager Nathan West has suggested charging differently for cases that are just reviewed for a referral and for cases that go all the way through the prosecuting process, Mielke said.

“What they’re saying is the county services are just expensive and they’re more than they can afford,” Mielke said. “But this side of it says we’d like to get more than what we’re currently getting, and so there’s a little bit of a disconnect.”

The county also is trying to balance the administrative costs of the contract.

Based on previous years’ services, the county knows that Port Angeles uses roughly 40 percent of its services while 15 percent comes from Sequim and about 30 percent comes from the sheriff’s office.

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Reporter Emily Hanson can be reached by email at emily.hanson@peninsuladailynews.com.