County Council: Human Resource professional needed; could save money
The Dubois County Council received some advice Monday night from local consultant John Siebert.
Siebert told council members they need to create a human recourses/loss control position within the county to handle employee and departmental affairs. HR duties currently fall under the auspices of the auditor’s office. County Auditor Kathy Hopf takes care of payroll, benefits and new employee orientation.
Siebert has been assisting a team comprised of Councilwomen Charmian Klem and Becky Beckman, Councilman Craig Greulich and Commissioner Elmer Brames in assessing county employees’ satisfaction with their work environment. He is volunteering his business consulting services at no charge.
As part of the assessment, a survey was created for county employees last fall. Faulty communication, inequitable treatment, wages, salary and general dissatisfaction with the county council, commissioners and county policy topped a list of problems cited in the survey.
Siebert then formed a human resources needs assessment team to determine if a human resources/loss prevention specialist was warranted. Through interviews with 11 departments — 911, Circuit Court, Community Corrections, Health Department, Highway Department, Security Center, Soil and Water, Solid Waste, Superior Court and Veterans Services — Siebert said it was apparent the county would benefit from an HR professional.
With county government aggressively addressing a financial shortfall that has continued to widen over the past four budget cycles, Siebert was cognizant of the council’s wariness about creating a new position. “We found a lot of redundancy in county government. We found a lot of lost opportunities,” he said while explaining the HR/loss control professional position or department would likely find enough savings to cover the cost of the new position.
Siebert explained that issues with consistent application of county policies could be alleviated by an HR specialist — the ire from Sheriff Donnie Lampert last month stemmed from the perceived inequitable compensation practices by the county council. (More on that below.)
An HR specialist would also ensure the county remains compliant with applicable employment laws and regulations.
It could free up time for department heads to work on managing their departments as well as look at other opportunities. Siebert explained the department heads said grant opportunities existed but they were not active in seeking them due to their other responsibilities.
The departments exist in silos so training opportunities that could be shared across county offices are not. This leads to extra spending due to the redundancy of the training.
Another issue is the process by which department heads find new employees. Siebert’s report indicated they felt this was time-consuming and pulled them away from their departmental needs.
Siebert suggested employee morale would increase with clearer lines of communication and consistent application of employee policies.
According to Siebert, the significant investment the county makes in human capital — employees accounted for 83 percent of the county’s budget in 2015 — warrants that investment be made responsibly.
He asked that the council support the group’s findings and take the next step in the process by forming a committee that includes three members of the council and a member of the commission to continue an examination of how an HR professional or department could be implemented.
This committee will reach out to other counties and municipalities operating with HR professionals in place to determine the impact on those communities as well as how the position is implemented. This stage of the process will also determine the potential cost of the new position.
The council agreed to appoint Craig Greulich, Martha Wehr and Nick Hostetter to the committee. The county commissioners will consider whether to support the effort at their next meeting on April 4.
If the commissioners approve the process, it could take about six months.
In other HR-related activities at the council meeting, Sheriff Lampert brought in a letter from a council member that said his antics last month may preclude him from being allowed to speak to the council in the future.
Lampert became highly irritated last month after the council declined to pay a jail cook an additional $181 for stepping up when the chief cook was out for an emergency surgery. When the council refused, Lampert — in defending his position told them, “If this isn’t worth $181, if your employees ain’t worth that, you can kiss my ass.”
During the tirade, Lampert again voiced his irritation at the council’s decision to increase the community corrections director’s pay by $5,000 to hire William Wells.
William Wells was offered the position as the new Dubois County Community Correction director in July. After learning the position required a drop in pay from the $54,680 he was earning as the program director for Dubois County Court Substance Abuse Services, Wells decided to stay in his current position.
An appeal by Superior Court Judge Mark McConnell swayed the council to increase the director’s pay by $5,000 so Wells would take the job.
Lampert, referring to the letter, pointed out its lack of a return address and the misspelling of his name gave him cause for alarm. “We are trained to watch out for letters like this,” he said. “They tell us to watch out for anthrax and they tell us to watch out for stuff that could harm you.”
He added that his family has also been instructed to watch out for letters with those characteristics. He indicated the letter caused a family member some concern and noted the message included in the letter could have been conveyed in person.
“In this letter, it talks about personal control,” he said. “Those infamous words. When I said them, I took my time and thought ‘how can I get your attention’ and that is what came out.”
The sheriff explained he was upset about being told he would not be entitled to speak to the council in the future if he could not conduct himself properly.
Council president Greg Kendall told him that no elected official or other member of the public was guaranteed the right to speak at the council meetings.
Councilman Jerry Hunefeld noted there were two issues in the incident. “There was a disagreement in policy or a decision,” he said. “That is kind of the natural function of this body. That is the nature of what we do.”
He explained the second part of the problem came down to two words; decorum and civility.
Decorum, according to Hunefeld, includes using good taste and appropriate behavior as well as maintaining a relatively low-tension atmosphere. He pointed out that local high school students sometimes attend the meetings and he wondered how they viewed the council and its processes.
Hunefeld said civility is important for the council as well as other elected officials. “We must treat everyone that comes here with respect,” he said. “And I think it is fair to ask for that in return.”
Hunefeld said he was discouraged when a friend asked him who was winning the argument with the county council. “Disagreements are going to happen,” he said. “My personal request is that in spite of disagreements and different opinions, we could all treat each other with civility and a degree of decorum.”
In other actions, the council:
• Approved spending $6,000 to advertise the fire text response subscriptions. The system texts firefighters in a responding area when a fire alarm is activated.
• Approved advertising for $500,000 in economic development income tax funds to cover paving of three roads this season; 400 North from Portersville Road to 500 West in Ireland, Schnellville Road from State Road 64 to Schnellville, and Convent Road in Ferdinand. The council questioned whether the money from Senate Bill 67 could be used instead of EDIT funds this year. SB 67 will give the county a one-time allotment of $2.1 million in June; 75 percent of this money must be used on roads, streets, bridges and airport projects. The rest can be put in the Rainy Day Fund. The highway department would like to use these funds as a required match (House Bill 1001) to receive additional funds through the Indiana Department of Transportation. This could allow the county to double road funding next year when House Bill 1001 money becomes available.
