Passaic County Sheriff's Office layoffs not set in stone, union president says

There has been much talk of layoffs in the Passaic County Sheriff's Office, but nothing has been approved and nothing is set in stone, some officials say.

Nearly two weeks after Sheriff Richard Berdnik's death by suicide, the union that represents the correctional officer positions that are in jeopardy said layoffs are not a done deal yet.

Just days before his Jan. 23 death, Berdnik announced that his department intended to lay off more than two dozen correctional officers.

In a memo released Jan. 19 to all employees, Berdnik announced the layoffs, saying he had to reduce the size of the department. The layoffs, the memo said, would involve only correctional officers, not their supervisors or the civilian staff.

Last week, John Welch, president of Passaic County corrections officers' union Local 197, said that although 29 layoffs may be planned to go into effect on April 30, the state Civil Service Commission has yet to approve them.

Despite early assurances that there would be no layoffs when talk of closing the Passaic County Jail first surfaced a few years ago, Welch said he wasn't surprised by the layoff announcement.

"Three years ago we were told no layoffs, but something changed about a year ago," Welch said. "There was nothing definite."

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The county jail is slated to fully close this month, as inmates continue to be sent to facilities in Bergen and Hudson counties through an agreement among the counties. The Passaic County Jail in Paterson is slated for demolition.

With no jail and no inmates, Passaic County will no longer need all the correctional officers.

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County spokesman Bill Maer said Berdnik had managed to find jobs for most of the corrections officers whose jobs were phased out.

About 100 of them became regular sheriff's officers, and 47 of them found similar jobs with Bergen County, 12 with Hudson County, four with Somerset County and one with Ocean County, Maer said. Berdnik, he said, did his best to find jobs for the last 29 officers as well.

Welch said that about a year ago, there was a change in tone within the department, adding that the shrinking of union members has been underway since 2017, when he became union president.

"We had 330 members when I started," Welch said.

Right now total union membership stands at 94, he said. The current plan is to keep 65 corrections officers, he said.

The remaining correctional officers are expected to operate the soon-to-open hub at the sheriff's complex in Wayne, which will process prisoners and send them to the Bergen or Hudson county lockups. A February opening of the hub is expected, and once that happens, the jail will be fully shut down.

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As of last week, the Bergen County Jail had 545 inmates and Hudson County's had 76.

Maer said their numbers have "stayed pretty consistent in this range since we stopped keeping inmates overnight in April of 2023."

The fate of the 29 may depend on what the Civil Service Commission approves.

If the 29 officers are laid off, the county estimates, it will save $3.3 million, Maer said.

What will happen now that the Sheriff's Office has a new sheriff, after Executive Undersheriff Gary Giardina was sworn in to the position on Jan. 24? That remains to be seen, Welch said.

"We have a good relationship," Welch said. "I am looking forward to working with him."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Passaic Sheriff's Office layoffs not yet a done deal, union head says