Agenda 01-18-22; 8-a - Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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15 1 like to see these additional dollars focused on mental health and SEL with broad definitions. 2 She said she has not attended school board meetings recently, and does not know what school 3 boards are doing to address issues. She said she wants to leave it up to schools to determine 4 on what to spend the money specifically, but does also like to have a plan because of ESSR 5 funds the schools boards got this year. 6 Chair Price asked the County Manager if she could explain the current situation with 7 counselors and social workers in the schools. 8 Bonnie Hammersley said she wanted to share a conversation she had with the 9 superintendents. She said the schools will provide a spending plan to school boards for 10 approval, then to the BOCC for approval. She said there would be an agreement that this would 11 not go to current expense, and they are intended to be ongoing funds. She said they also 12 discussed that schools should be able to determine priorities within plan. She said ultimately 13 the BOCC would have the opportunity to speak into the plan, but she has always relied on 14 superintendents as experts in their fields. She said both schools boards requested funds in 15 their expansion budgets for these issues, and she imagines these are the most pressing needs, 16 as students were not in school for many months. She said a question was raised as to whether 17 these funds could also be used for mental health for school employees. She told the schools to 18 work with the boards and bring the plan forward. She said they also talked about metrics, which 19 the schools thought should be different. She said the BOCC will approve a framework of funds, 20 but will have to go through additional approval for more details. 21 Commissioner Hamilton said CHCCS had $1 million in its expansion budget for SEL and 22 mental health, but the county could not fund it. She said there are words in the information 23 provided about what the plan is, but she does not feel comfortable approving it unless it is clear 24 it is just a framework. She said anyone who is paying attention and reading the documents 25 would make the assumption that if it is in the document it will be done. She said she wants to 26 be specific. 27 Commissioner Richards said employees have gone two years without increases, and 28 there have also been no trainings. She said this may be a onetime opportunity to catch up more 29 with employees. She asked if there is any consideration to this issue. 30 Commissioner Richards asked if the Sportsplex is meant to be self-sustaining. 31 Bonnie Hammersley said the Sportsplex is an enterprise fund, and does not receive 32 general funds from the county, but the county is the safety net. She said the county did provide 33 some support during COVID-19, but the Sportsplex is now back on track. She said the county 34 has two enterprise funds: Solid Waste and Sportsplex. 35 Commissioner Richards said she assumed part of the funds available came through 36 department austerity measures, and asked if departments had delayed projects, etc. that can be 37 corrected. 38 Travis Myren said department savings from delayed projects have been re-budgeted. 39 Bonnie Hammersley said the 5% reduction of operating funds was meant to be 40 sustainable, i.e.: there is no expectation for the money to be put back. She said this is not 41 uncommon in county government. 42 Commissioner Richards asked if salaries will be maintained in the new budget. 43 Bonnie Hammersley said the county is currently 6% behind the market before this 44 increase. She said she cannot say what will be done in next budget because projections are 45 not available yet. She said the full impact of the pandemic is not known, as the pandemic is not 46 over. She said she hopes to make up some of the loss. 47 Commissioner Richards said when she spoke with department heads, each department 48 brought up the amount of work employees have to do, nature of work changed due to COVID- 49 19, and vacancies in departments. She said it is important to stay competitive. 50 Bonnie Hammersley said one area where the county can remain competitive, is to allow 51 remote working. She said the private sector is doing tremendous amounts of remote work,