June 9, 2017 at 4:34 p.m.
Oneida County LRES talks internal and external hiring
Oneida County LRES talks internal and external hiring
Employee Services needs to replace that position as soon as possible due to a busy summer ahead and Human Resources director Lisa Charbarneau announced at the Labor Relations and Employee Services Committee meeting that she wanted to recruit that person from within, rather posting the job externally.
That brought a question from supervisor Billy Fried as to why the county would open up the search to include everyone.
"I think employee morale is affected by that," Charbarneau responded. "We talk to people about other opportunities when they come on board and sometimes they have to start at positions that are lower level in the county to get in and work through the system. It gives them something to shoot for, to look forward to. We spend a lot of money county-wide on training people and improving their skills and abilities, so certainly that's one reason. Another reason is that it takes -obviously there's money that needs to be spent if we run ads and what not. It also extends the period of time it takes to fill the position.
"Also, we are in the unique position in knowing what our employees skills and abilities are, based on their applications, based on information they provide us in their files, based on training and improvements," Charbarneau continued. "We review all the performance evaluations, so we certainly know that there are people within the organization that are qualified for this position."
Fried responded by saying morale could also be negatively affected by hiring from within due to a potential belief of favoritism.
He also felt the county could find in an interview that a prospective employee may be a better fit for another department.
"We even had something here recently where there was some question about why it hadn't been opened up and it had only been limited to internal," Fried said. "So I just wanted to question why we don't do both because you never know what you might get and it just gives you a bigger pool, and to some people, it might be a little more transparent. One of the things from Act 10, I believe it took us away from being limited to just doing it internal. It allowed us now to see what was all out there."
Chairman Ted Cushing then chimed in that he supported Charbarneau's request because the benefits were greater than the negatives.
Cushing claimed jobs were available, but people don't want to work. His statement then turned to saying kids currently don't want to work for cheaper wages, a statement that isn't entirely true.
Yes, the number of teenagers in the workforce dropped 33 percent from 2001 to 2014, but a study by CareerBuilder in 2015 stated that workers of at least 55 years old had increased by 40 percent during the same time period, while more than 66 percent of people aged 18 to 24 enrolled in a two- or four-year college within a year of high school graduation in 2012.
"Look at the job market out there right now. You can't go by a business that doesn't have a 'help wanted' sign out," Cushing said. "Nobody wants to work. Kids getting out of high school, 'What do you mean $12 an hour?' I can tell you right now, if you want to be a lifeguard in Hazelhurst and sit out in the sun all day, $15 per hour is what we're going to have to pay."
The request by Charbarneau was eventually approved unanimously after a glitch in the intended motion and a brief dispute in what constituted a passing vote with two out of five committee members missing.
Oneida County must repay donated PTO
Oneida County acts as a partner in the Aging and Disability Resource Center of the Northwoods (ADRC) and the Department of Aging subcontracts three ful-time county employees.
The ADRC is fully funded through state and federal grants.
In 2015 and 2016, two county employees were on an extended leave of absence and received donated paid time off from other county employees.
"When an employee donates PTO, they receive all the fringes," Finance director Darcy Smith said. "Those fringes are billed, along with the donated PTO hours, to the ADRC. The ADRC paid the county for this and was submitted to the state for reimbursement. The state reimbursement reoccurred and there was a question on what was allowable."
The ADRC contacted the state, while Smith contacted Schenck SC to see if it was allowable or not.
Since the county did not have a policy on donated PTO at the time, it was determined that it was not permitted. It was determined the amount Oneida County must repay is $31,027.52.
"We need to pay it to this ADRC, who will in turn, repay it to the state," Smith said.
Nick Sabato may be reached at [email protected] or via Twitter @SabatoNick.
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