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where one was meritorious. Before he ever votes to reinstate this, he would like the Manager to <br />develop some criteria. <br />Laura Blackmon said that she has plans to evaluate the performance evaluation plan. <br />Also, the supervisors need to be trained on how to do evaluations. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that he would like to know what the County's neighbors are <br />doing. He would also like to see the executive summary of the Condrey report to refresh his <br />memory about what was recommended. There were also some issues with the health <br />insurance and employee dissatisfaction about how medication was paid for. He would like <br />some input from the Employee Consortium on whether there are any problems with the health <br />insurance. <br />Laura Blackmon said that she has not heard any complaints. She would like to do an <br />employee satisfaction survey on various benefits as a precursor to the pay and benefits study. <br />Commissioner Jacobs agreed with Commissioner Nelson's idea of bringing all of the <br />non-profits together to help them. Since the County gives most of the non-profits money, there <br />may be some leverage. He would like to talk about whether the County can have expectations, <br />or whether it is just a conveyor of funds. <br />Commissioner Gordon agreed with Commissioner Jacobs about getting charts on <br />previous COLAs and information on what our neighbors are doing. She would also be <br />interested in the backup information on how employees get rated outstanding, exceptional, <br />proficient, needs improvement, etc. <br />4. Vacant Positions <br />Laura Blackmon went through the yellow sheet of Orange County Vacancies as of June <br />1, 2007. She said that she likes to look at vacant positions and find out why there might be <br />difficulty in hiring the position. She will be looking at assisting departments and why they cannot <br />fill the positions. <br />Regarding Cooperative Extension, there have been some changes in the arrangement <br />with the State and perhaps the FTE is not necessary. <br />Commissioner Gordon asked clarifying questions about the 96% budget for payroll. <br />Laura Blackmon explained the justification far this. She said that there is a lot of time spent <br />processing paperwork regarding the 120-day waiting period. She is recommending budgeting <br />96% in lieu of the 120-day waiting period. <br />Donna Coffey said that the savings of budgeting 100% and 96°lo is $1.3 million. The <br />budgeted savings from the 120-day waiting period is $1.2 million. <br />Chair Carey said that the savings is not that much after the labor when tracking, etc. is <br />factored in. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that it is approximately a financial wash to budget 96°~. <br />Laura Blackmon said that the $1.3 million savings is what she is recommending to <br />finance the 3% COLA and the 1 % and 2% on in-range salary adjustments. <br />Chair Carey asked why some of the positions were still listed when they have not been <br />filled in a really long time. Laura Blackmon said that she wants to look at this. She said that <br />she is not fond of having FTEs on the books if they are not intended to be filled. <br />Chair Carey wants to establish a policy of taking these positions off if they are no longer <br />useful. <br />Donna Coffey said that there is no policy in place, but last year during the budget <br />process, the County Commissioners eliminated various FTEs because they had not been filled. <br />