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the Board's consideration, which delete the presence of a spouse or domestic partner from the <br /> meeting, and require that the trained mediator has training in rules and regulations of the <br /> County. Staff is recommending Alternative 2. <br /> Clarifying questions of the County Commissioners were answered by staff. <br /> Commissioner Jacobs asked if statements in the pre-disciplinary hearing are part of the <br /> record and Laura Blackmon said that there are no minutes taken, but the accusations are in <br /> writing. <br /> Geof Gledhill said that if the Board takes no action for 100 days from the last Board <br /> action, there will be no amendment to the ordinance. <br /> A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs to approve alternative one on page <br /> three, removing the word "not" from the third sentence, which would read, "The person <br /> is considered a support person and is allowed to participate in a conference." The <br /> alternative is shown below: <br /> An eligible employee may have a third party present at this conference as provided in <br /> the Rules and Regulations adopted for this Section. The third party may be a friend, family <br /> member(but not a spouse or domestic partner) or another employee, but not an attorney. The <br /> person is considered a support person and is allowed to participate in the conference. The <br /> Human Resource Director or the Human Resource Director's designee may be present at <br /> management's or the employee's request. <br /> Commissioner Yuhasz said that he is not clear on this and he does not think that <br /> having an advocate will be helpful in accomplishing the goal of ironing out problems between <br /> the employee and the supervisor. <br /> Laura Blackmon said that, by the point of a meeting of this nature, there would have <br /> already been counseling, discussions, and some documentation of the problems. <br /> Commissioner Gordon is concerned about equity issues because this would only apply <br /> to half of the employees. <br /> Michael McGinnis said that he had conversations with the Sheriff's Department, <br /> Register of Deeds, Health Department, and Social Services, as well as Drake Maynard from <br /> the Office of State Personnel and the rules indicate specifically about an attorney or other <br /> such. There is not a representative in the hearings for State personnel and the only other <br /> person in the conference is someone from Human Resources. The County departments listed <br /> above indicated that they do not wish to change from this policy and would not want to have <br /> another person in the conference because it would make it more adversarial and would <br /> indicate that something is not being done fairly. He said that all of the departments that are <br /> exempt from using the ordinance would wish that the County would not make the change. <br /> Commissioner Jacobs made his motion again. Commissioner Yuhasz seconded the <br /> motion. <br /> VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br /> Commissioner Jacobs mentioned an article in the News and Observer that OPC was in <br /> danger of losing thousands of dollars in State funding because it had not "satisfactorily" found <br /> placements for people who were deinstitutionalized and if they did not act by the end of the <br /> year were going to lose the money. Since the County Commissioners do not meet again <br /> before the end of the year, he would like some information on this. <br /> Laura Blackmon said that there was an email sent out late yesterday from Judy Truitt. <br /> She will get this information to the County Commissioners. <br />