Minutes - 19991013 - Laserfiche WebLink

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I Commissioner Brown said that she has been in everybody's office and she is not sure if 2 this study is going to tell her anything. 3 Commissioner Halkiotis said that the County has built buildings to help with space 4 needs. He feels that if a space study is done first that maybe it will show something. 5 John Link said that a comprehensive study was done in 1990 or 1991. They have, since 6 that time, revisited some positions and upgraded some of these positions. He said that he 7 hopes that the salaries in Orange County would be compared with those of Durham, Wake, 8 Guilford, and Forsyth Counties and not Caswell, Alamance, or other counties the same size 9 because recruiting in Orange County is done against the larger counties to find and hire the best 10 people. He feels that a space study can help to focus on what space needs should be 11 addressed. He said that department heads should complete their own job description and take 12 it seriously. 13 Commissioner Brown told Chair Gordon that she wants to address her concerns and 14 wonders what can be done to get the information and make some determinations, such as a 15 space study, job descriptions, and office descriptions. 16 Commissioner Carey said that the findings could be compared to the counties that are 17 selected. 18 Commissioner Jacobs said that the Board has discussed starting the Innovation and 19 Efficiency Committee fairly soon and this study could be an early task for that committee. 20 Chair Gordon said that there was already a committee formed for space study. 21 Commissioners Brown and Gordon are on this committee. 22 Commissioner Jacobs said that the committee could be charged with looking at whether 23 or not there is any readily perceivable equity issues among the department heads. He feels that 24 if a Board member identifies a concern with the way County employees are treated, it should be 25 addressed. He said that maybe this study does not fit under innovation and efficiency. He 26 suggested asking Elaine Holmes for her opinion and her perception. 27 Elaine Holmes said that she has heard that jobs have changed over the last ten years 28 but there have been no discrimination complaints. 29 Chair Gordon asked if anyone was in favor of this study besides her if it was done in- 30 house over the next two years. 31 Commissioner Carey said that it is reasonable to think that a lot of things have changed 32 with regards to job descriptions, but it has changed for everybody and not just department 33 heads. He said that a lot of the changes have to do with the expectations of County 34 government. He does not mind doing the study in-house. For the sake of credibility he feels an 35 outside firm should do the study, but he can accept it being done in-house. 36 Chair Gordon asked what a pay equity study for all County employees would do to the 37 scale of the study. 38 Elaine Holmes said that it would require information from the job study. She said that a 39 study on 684 positions could not be done in-house. 40 Commissioner Jacobs suggested asking the Personnel Director and Manager to come 41 back to the Board with additional information that is needed. He said that this issue could be left 42 at the information gathering stage. He suggested getting the department heads to do job 43 descriptions. He said that the department heads could be asked to identify any inequity 44 concerns anonymously. He thinks that this is not something that is at the point where the 45 Commissioners need to do anything other than getting more information. 46 John Link said that a job description of each department head was needed, and within 47 that process the department heads would describe any perceived inequities in their space or 48 any other job aspect. The department heads would also describe their responsibility in 49 supervising, how long they have been in local government, etc. He said that the historical 50 factors could not be controlled. He said that it would take several months to get the report.