‘He is delusional’: Woodbury County supervisor, attorneys’ union continue compensation dispute at meeting

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — Emotions ran high at Tuesday’s Woodbury County Board of Supervisors meeting.

A verbal sparring followed last week’s written exchange between board chairman Matthew Ung and union president Todd Copley. At the center of all this is a proposal by the county aimed at filling a backlog of vacancies in the county attorney’s office, which was voted down by the union representing assistant attorneys in that office.

The Woodbury County Attorney’s Office is eight assistant attorneys shy of a full staff. In an effort to fill those positions, the county’s Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) offered immediate and faster wage increases, additional vacation days, as well as a limited work-from-home option and other benefits. Again, though, union members, who are currently contracted through 2027, voted down that offer.

Until Tuesday, only representatives of AFSCME, Council 61 Local 3462 had spoken publicly concerning chairman Ung’s comments. Ung criticized union representatives and members for not approving the MOU.

However, at Tuesday’s regular supervisors meeting, assistant county attorneys themselves took aim at chairman Ung.

“Your comments regarding the union rejection of the board’s MOU proposal were not only unprofessional, but reprehensible,” assistant attorney Athena Ladeas said. “You have no idea the sacrifices that each of us have made and continue to make on a daily basis to ensure that the cases are timely filed and prosecuted in order to provide not only protection, but justice to the people of Woodbury County.”

“Public service is not something people go into to get rich,” another assistant attorney said. “It’s a calling. It’s a duty. They do it because they love the work and they love their community. And this kind of disrespect coming from the chair of your board doesn’t help you retain people, and it doesn’t help you attract them.”

In a social media post last week , Ung stated that if the union refused to re-vote and sign an MOU at their next meeting, he would call for the dissolution of the union group. Copley responded to Ung’s message , saying that blaming the union for something that supervisors could have resolved earlier is “absolute hypocrisy.”

On Tuesday, Copley had even stronger words for Ung.

“In all the years of being involved in public service, I have never in my life seen or witnessed anything like Mr. Ung,” Copley said. “He is delusional. He is the wrong person for the position.”

Afterwards, Ung said he was disappointed by the union members.

“When the attorneys union members rejected the offer, which took nothing away from them… that does endanger public safety,” he said. “My opinion is this: if you reject something that will help solve your staffing problem, then what is the purpose of your union existing? If you cannot do something as sign off on a document that makes it easier to hire new people – which no one disputes, no one disputed tonight – why are you there?”

By meeting’s end, little was accomplished and no meeting to address the issue was scheduled.

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