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Updated at 8:42 p.m. Thursday to correct an error, an employee being hired at a Step C would top out about a year later at Step E and would then have to wait roughly nine years before reaching longevity, according to Norma Williams, Del Norte County Employees Association SEIU 1021.

With the president of Del Norte County’s largest bargaining unit warning that the practice was creating a retention problem, the Board of Supervisors took no action on five requests to hire staff at a more advanced step on the salary schedule.

Two weeks earlier Norma Williams, president of the Del Norte County Employees Association SEIU 1021, told supervisors that their hiring at Step C was fast becoming a standard. On Tuesday, noting that negotiations with county administration were scheduled for Thursday, Williams said the union seeks clarity on the hiring process.

Williams also noted that the length of time an employee has before they reach longevity is shorter if they are hired in the middle of the salary range than an entry-level worker. According to Williams, if a new employee is approved at a Step C after being hired, he or she would top out at Step E about a year later. They would then have to wait about nine years before reaching longevity where they would get a 5% pay increase, she said.

Until then, Williams said, the only pay increases that employee would see is any SEIU 1021 and county agree on.

_{Thumbnail photo: Del Norte Triplicate owner Dan Schmidt addresses Crescent City’s proposed policy for creating an alternative process for publishing public notices at the Council’s Oct. 20 meeting. | Screenshot}

Despite Dan Schmidt’s assurance that Del Norte has a newspaper of general circulation, county supervisors followed the city’s footsteps Tuesday to create a plan B for posting public notices.

Schmidt pointed out that the Del Norte Triplicate has served Crescent City and Del Norte County for since 1879. Though he recently purchased the newspaper from previous owners Country Media Inc., Schmidt said he is in the process of putting his sixth publication out.

“The adjudication status as a newspaper of general circulation is the most valuable and perhaps the only asset a newspaper has. It’s the asset that I drained my 401k to acquire,” he said, handing a copy of that adjudication to the clerk of the Board on Tuesday. “We know the circumstances of why it was shut down. I could have stopped for three or four weeks and taken time to get my act together. I decided to keep on going. Keep on publishing and just today we’re putting together our sixth issue.”