Minutes 12-06-2021 Virtual Business Meeting

Browse Search

16 Commissioner Richards said when she spoke with department heads, each department brought up the amount of work employees have to do, nature of work changed due to COVID- 19, and vacancies in departments. She said it is important to stay competitive. Bonnie Hammersley said one area where the county can remain competitive, is to allow remote working. She said the private sector is doing tremendous amounts of remote work, which is attractive to young professionals. She said one of her goals for the upcoming budget, will be to look at some type of retention package to retain employees. She said there is a labor shortage right now, with boomers retiring, and employees have opportunity they did not have with opportunities to go other places. She said the county must compete with private sector in that way. She said it is also evident that the pandemic has left everyone exhausted. She said when this surplus came up, she knew it was important to put some funding towards employees. Commissioner Richards asked if county employees have emotional and mental health services/support. Bonnie Hammersley said yes, there is employee assistance and a strong benefits package. Chair Price thanked the County Manager for putting the salary increase in the budget. She said she wanted a cost of living increase for employees during the budget, but it was not available at the time. She said the County Manager promised to put any excess funds towards the employees, and she has done so. Travis Myren referred to Commissioner Bedford's earlier question, and said the ADM share for CHCCS would go down a bit if using current enrollment. Commissioner Bedford said she would like it to be reflective of current enrollment for accuracy. Travis Myren asked if Board wants to address specific wording of how the money can be used by the schools. Commissioner Greene said a good way to synthesize the discussion would be to offer money to schools under the joint umbrella of opportunity gap and mental health/SEL, and let them come back to board with priorities based on their needs. She said she is persuaded that both school systems could use it all for mental health, but to honor the intent of the Board, she would like the wording to be proposed as both, as it gives schools greater flexibility. Commissioner McKee said Commissioner Greene's comments were spot on, and agrees with her proposal. Commissioner Richards said she will go along with this plan, but will remain concerned as long as the opportunity gap is discussed but the system is not held accountable for the results of a sound education for all. Commissioner Richards referred to planning funding for the crisis intervention center, and asked if these funds would be in addition to the planning funding. She said she asked for a list of ARPA funds expenses, and there was a line item of planning funding for the crisis center. Travis Myren said the crisis center is on both lists, but it is not eligible for ARPA expenditures Commissioner Richards said $160,000 is not happening but $250,000 is happening. Travis Myren said yes, as it is not eligible for APRA funding. Commissioner Richards asked if the costs went up. Travis Myren said staff is recommending an increase in funding for the planning stage, to allow the process to move further down the road. He said it will come off ARPA list at the next BOCC meeting. Commissioner Richards asked if staff will let the BOCC know if other items are removed from the list. Travis Myren said he will go back to those ARPA fund items which are be replaced with general fund monies at the end of his presentation.