TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – A very frustrated Lucas County Sheriff Mike Navarre walked out of a county commissioners meeting while giving a presentation on his 2025 budget proposal on Tuesday. The outburst came after commissioners rejected a contract for sheriff’s office employees last week.

“I will tell you that discussing salaries in contract negotiations in this environment is perceived as interference by commissioners and is an unfair labor practice and I am not going to participate in it,” Navarre said. “You are out of line.”

During Navarre’s presentation, county commissioners repeatedly pressed him about proposed pay increases for sheriff’s office employees. The raises were included in a contractual agreement between the sheriff’s office and the Fraternal Order of Police, the union that represents sheriff’s office employees. Commissioners refused to approve the agreement last week.

On Tuesday, commissioners took issue with the fact that Navarra would not give them a specific dollar amount on how much the increases would cost the county.

The commissioners addressed the incident in a joint statement:

“We are disappointed that the Sheriff has decided not to stay today to attend his full budget hearing. The Sheriff’s Office has the largest departmental budget in the Lucas County general fund, and any increase over its 2024 budget level will impact the entire county. At the beginning of this year’s budget process, the Lucas County Board of Commissioners directed all departments and agencies to hold their 2025 budgets stable as we face a revenue shortfall. We are committed to a public and transparent discussion with all entities receiving funding, and we welcome the Sheriff or his representative to join us at next week’s budget hearings and pick up where we left off today.”

Navarra also issued a statement:

Contract negotiations with the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) began in early July 2024, with the full knowledge and consent of the county commissioners. The Commissioners promised me an economic proposal for several weeks. On September 24, they informed me that they would not receive any proposals and that they wanted me to delay completing the negotiations until the end of the year. The contract expires on December 31. On September 30, I sent a memo to the three commissioners explaining why their request was not feasible. My note was ignored. I proceeded with negotiations and reached a tentative agreement with the FOP on October 1, which was subsequently approved by its members. Commissioners rejected the agreement on November 5. The next step under the Ohio Bargaining Law is a hearing before an investigator, who will then make a recommendation that the commissioners or the FOP can reject. If either party rejects the Factfinders report, the final step is binding conciliation.

At today’s meeting, all three commissioners took issue with the fact that employee increases for 2025 were not included in our budget requests. It should be noted that our 2025 budget was presented in August and the agreement with the FOP was not reached until October 1. Additionally, my financial staff and I were specifically instructed not to estimate employee salaries, and that they would be added later.

Ahead of today’s budget hearing, I anticipated questions related to contract negotiations. Therefore, I consulted our labor attorney, who advised me that it would be inappropriate to discuss negotiations in a public setting, as it could be perceived by the commissioners as “interference” and could constitute an “unfair labor practice.” I informed the Commissioners of this fact during the hearing to no avail. They continued to ask questions and left me no choice but to leave the hearing before it concluded.

Navarra also sent 13 Action News a copy of a memo he sent to commissioners in September. In it, he claims that sheriff’s office employees are the lowest paid in the region, which has created “tremendous challenges” in recruiting and retaining employees. The note can be seen below.

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