Minutes 05-08-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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leaving these employees on while next steps are taken. She said some of them may be selected for jobs in the schools. Commissioner Gordon said she does not understand what these people are supposed to do. Nancy Coston said there are homeless grant funds that staff is not managing, so more time could be spent on this area and one person could help here. She said the two proposed social services positions were very concrete and would be helping out with child welfare and protective services. She said the three extra employees would generally be able to help staff catch up on areas that are currently running behind. She said social workers have been used to handle a lot of the emergency assistance and crisis and this was an area where these people could be used. She said this is certainly a temporary situation. Commissioner Dorosin asked if the budget will be revised to not include the two positions. Nancy Coston said yes. Commissioner Dorosin proposed that staff reach out to the school system and encourage them to look at these individuals for any social worker positions that are needed. Nancy Coston said staff has been having these conversations with the schools. She said the schools cannot specify if they have these positions. She said there are also some limitations on the hiring, such as the requirement of a Masters Degree. Chair Jacobs said there is a school collaboration meeting next week, and this issue can be raised directly. Nancy Coston said one of the problems is timing, as the schools would hire 10 month employees, instead of 12 month. She said this also means these people would not be hired until the fall. Chair Jacobs said there is also the issue of the state cutting funding for the schools, so if the County does not fully fund the requests then there will be choices to make. Michael Talbert said that is part of the school's request this year, and the shortfall in these positions is about $300,000. He said if funding is not received, there will be hard ' decisions to make. He said the Board of education also has to follow their hiring practices and procedures. Commissioner Gordon said layoffs have been avoided in the past by switching employees to other departments. She asked why this wasn't done here. Michael Talbert said there is a lot of uncertainty about how many of these social workers will be hired by the school system, and these jobs are also very specialized. He did not feel there was a good fit open in County government. He said the two vacancies in social services will be taken advantage of. He does not want to go into a situation of having to do a reduction in force, and if this does not move forward in May, that reduction in force will have to be issued by the end of May for all of these positions. He said staff thinks the situation will work itself out. Chair Jacobs said this is about trying to help these workers remain employed and help the schools bridge the differences in hiring practices and time frames. He said this is about keeping people working without making a long term commitment to maintaining these positions. A motion was made by Commissioner McKee, seconded by Commissioner Price to approve funding the current seven Social Worker II positions at DSS in Fiscal Year 2014-2015 and eliminate two vacant positions at DSS effective July 1, 2014. VOTE: 6-1 (Commissioner Gordon) e. Child Care Subsidy