Minutes - 20040831 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

APPROVED 10/05/2004 MINUTES BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS WORK SESSION AUGUST 31, 2004 7:30 p.m. The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a work session on Tuesday, August 31, 2004 at 7:30 p.m. at the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Barry Jacobs and Commissioners Moses Carey, Jr., Alice M. Gordon, and Stephen Halkiotis COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Margaret Brown COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill, Sean Borhanian COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Managers Rod Visser, and Gwen Harvey and Clerk to the Board Donna S. Baker (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below} NOTE: ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MINUTES ARE IN THE PERMANENT AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. Chair Jacobs called the meeting to order. 1. Budaet Follow-up -Proposed New Personnel Position Personnel Director Elaine Holmes said that this was in follow-up to the June budget work session discussion. The Board had reserved funding for this position in the approved budget of 2004-2005. The position was requested to address the increased workload. Permanent employee workforce has increased by 41 % since staff was last added to the Personnel Department ten years ago. The issues that employees have take many hours to work through. The most notable projects are the transfer of Solid Waste Management to Orange County, the transfer of the emergency transportation function to the County from the Orange County Rescue Squad, and the transfer of the animal shelter to the County. This position will enable the Personnel Department to meet the service needs. Commissioner Carey verified that temporary employees have covered this workload. Elaine Holmes said that they have also used professional contract services. She has proposed reducing these funds to offset the cost of this new position. She has put $26,000 toward the position from Temporary Wages and Contract Personnel Services, which nets out to $19,000. The net additional cost of the proposed position is $14,741, which is in reserve. Commissioner Halkiotis said that the County Commissioners have had along-standing interest in doing more of an outreach to under-represented populations that serve as employees of Orange County government. Specifically, he made reference to Hispanic people and people with disabilities. He asked how this position could afford an opportunity to do more with these specific groups. Elaine Holmes said that this position would afford them to do more outreach.