PUEBLO COUNTY — Union leaders and supporters voiced their concerns at Tuesday's Board of County Commissioners meeting over the amount of taxpayer money allocated for legal fees for Pueblo County Sheriff David Lucero's attorney.
The attorney fees are for costs associated with rulings made by the Colorado Department of Labor, including an appeal filed by Lucero and most recently a review filed in Denver District Court over the Department of Labor's decision.
County Attorney Cynthia Mitchell said during a December Board of County Commissioners meeting Lucero's legal fees were capped at $25,000.
"I strongly believe that this all could’ve been avoided and the $25,000 could have been spent elsewhere," Master Deputy Brad Ricillo and President of IBPO Local 837 told county commissioners Tuesday morning.
State lawmakers passed a law in 2022 allowing county employees to unionize. The law is called the Collective Bargaining by County Employees Act, also referred to as "COBCA".
Pueblo County Sheriff David Lucero said he believes entering into collective bargaining negotiations interferes with his statutory duties and responsibilities as a sheriff.
"What I maintain is that the office of the sheriff is a separate, independent office, separate from the Board of County Commissioners," Lucero said, "each individual office has certain obligations that they have by state statute, because we're a statutory county. In this bill, it groups everybody as county employees."
Other Sheriff's offices in the state have formed unions since COBCA went into effect including Boulder and Arapahoe counties.
Pueblo Sheriff Deputies voted to join the International Brotherhood of Police Officers (IBPO) in December of 2023, they've been seeking to collectively bargain with Sheriff Lucero since February of last year.
"I'm tired. I'm very discouraged at times," Ricillo said, "we've had nothing but roadblocks since we began in February".
The Colorado Department of Labor ordered Sheriff Lucero to recognize the union in July, the Sheriff appealed that decision. An administrative law judge upheld the Department's decision.
Sheriff Lucero pursued an additional review which is now in Denver district court.
"Ultimately I'm hoping to get some clarification under the law," Lucero said, "there [are] clear questions in this law that provide more questions than it does answers, on how we navigate through this legislation."
Ricillo sees the law differently, "The law is very clear, the law states that he must negotiate, he must negotiate in good faith."
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