PORT ANGELES — It’s a dirty job, but the somebodies who’ve got to do it will make an extra buck an hour.
Clallam County commissioners approved the raise Tuesday — retroactive to July 1 — for the five female District 1 Court operations specialists who sometimes must collect urine specimens from female parolees.
They also approved a one-time, $1,000 payment to one of the five for collecting samples during the first half of 2006.
Cyndie Fudally, who works in the court’s probation division, was the only specialist who’d kept count of tests she’d collected during that period.
Marge Upham, county personnel director, said the agreement with Teamsters Local 589 was the fairest of three alternatives county administrators and union officials had considered.
They rejected a flat rate as high as $5 per test because some employees might refuse the duty at that price.
They also dismissed paying only certain court employees because a designated worker might not be available when Judge Rick Porter orders a test.
Women parolees who must remain drug free are tested at random by the court.
Tests make a difference
“It’s had an impact on people,” Upham said.
“They know if they come in dirty, they’re going to jail.”
The court specialists supervise the sampling to make sure that parolees do not substitute clean samples for ones that would indicate drug use.