On Merkel

AFSCME forwarded the following letter to me at home:

I am pleased to announce the selection of Tom Merkel as the new Corrections Director, effective May 21st. Tom has a long and distinguished career in criminal justice with a Bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice and a law degree. Tom has served as the Inspector in charge of Adult Detention in the Sheriff's Office since July, 2001. Prior to that he was the Deputy Director of Corrections in Shawnee County, Kansas. Please join me in welcoming Tom into his new responsibilities.

Richard P. Johnson Acting County Administrator

They wanted to know what we thought of him. I know that under his hand discipline was very heavy handed. Prior to his arrival if someone made a mistake they might get a letter of reprimand, if it was bad maybe a day off, if severe (and rare) a three day suspension. Under Inspector Merkel, 6 and 10 day suspensions were common. This was a man who once fired a woman just for filing a workers comp claim when he was Deputy Director in Kansas.

The following day, August 21, 1998, Major Thomas Merkel, the jail administrator, telephoned the claimant and terminated claimant supposedly for reasons not related to her worker's compensation claim. Claimant filed a grievance in reference to the termination and was reinstated to her job on September 22, 1998. (McCall v. Shawnee County)

We haven't seen the last of him though. He will be subpoenaed to be at an arbitration regarding a 10 day suspension of an SRT member and over the breakfast issue. I do hope his replacement is a little more employee conscious. If you take the time to read the 2006 annual report it says that employee retention is a problem and that it's cheaper to retain employees then to continuously hire and train new ones. The ball's in their court.