Geiger director job likely to stay vacant for now

The position of director at Geiger Corrections Center – left vacant by Tuesday’s firing of Leon Long – is likely to remain vacant while control of the center is transferred from Spokane County commissioners to Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich.

Long’s other job, as the county’s risk manager, may be given to risk management specialist Steve Bartel.

Bartel and Capt. John McGrath, Geiger’s corrections commander, took over Long’s duties when he was placed on paid leave in August.

“Personally, I don’t see a reason to change that,” County Commissioner Todd Mielke said Wednesday.

While Bartel may be promoted to risk management director, McGrath’s title isn’t likely to change – at least not until Geiger Corrections Center becomes a division of the Sheriff’s Office.

“I would presume we would leave that (Long’s) position vacant until we have completed that integration,” Mielke said.

Commissioners decided last month to consolidate management of county correctional facilities as they prepare to ask voters to pay for construction of a new low- to medium-security jail that would replace Geiger.

Long was suspended with pay in August after an employee filed a sexual harassment complaint. One of four union bargaining units at Geiger said in a letter of no confidence that Long made crude remarks and improper decisions, including an order for improper body cavity searches of inmates.

A private attorney hired to investigate the complaints concluded Long wasn’t guilty of sexual harassment, but made “inappropriate statements.” The investigator also “confirmed various inappropriate management practices,” commissioners stated Tuesday in a unanimous resolution to fire Long.

The no-confidence letter that contributed to Long’s dismissal came from a nine-member bargaining unit that represents Geiger supervisors, mostly sergeants.

However, Geiger’s largest bargaining unit, representing 75 to 80 rank-and-file corrections officers, took no position on Long’s leadership.

“We did not initiate anything against Mr. Long,” the unit’s vice president, Mike Horstman, said Wednesday.

County Personnel Manager Cathy Malzahn said she wasn’t aware of any complaint from two other bargaining units that represent 43 other Geiger employees.

All four bargaining units are affiliated with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Mielke said county officials are negotiating with those and other bargaining units on how to merge operations of the Geiger Corrections Center and the Spokane County Jail. The county’s goal is an integrated staff capable of working at either facility as needed, Mielke said.

Pay, job descriptions and training would be standardized, he said.

State law allows Geiger corrections officers to join the Sheriff’s Office at their current ranks without civil service testing, and Mielke said that’s what commissioners want.