After more than a week of 24/7 patrols, Mineral County Sheriff Tom Bower and Undersheriff Mike Boone, can finally take a day off. According to Teamsters Local 2 Spokesman Shawn Fontaine, deputies, dispatchers and detention officers went back to work this morning, June 8, and ended the strike.

“We were able to get a date secured with the mediator, and that will be next Wednesday the 15th at 10:00 a.m. where we will start the mediation process. In a show of good faith, because of the interest of public safety and the nature of the job that these members perform, we agreed that we would go back to work as soon as we got a mediation date set.”

Fontaine says the county commissioners responded and set the date on Wednesday. Fontaine says he hopes both sides can “meet in the middle.”

“We have our proposals that we come in with, the county has their proposals that they come in with, and somewhere in the middle is where the agreement is. We just need to get there. I don’t expect to get everything we came in for, and I hope the county doesn’t think that the one offer they made us is satisfactory, because that’s what led to the strike. “

If the mediation doesn’t work, Fontaine says the strike may resume, but deputies will be out on patrol at least until then.

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