Board Retains Parent Committee Hiring Input

With budget time fast approaching, former Marinette County Supervisor John Guarisco on Tuesday, Sept. 18 took advantage of the time allocated for public comment at County Board meetings each month to ask supervisors to take another look at the cost of providing long-term health insurance coverage for retiring county employees, with an eye to the possibility of reducing that benefit. Currently the county faces responsibility for $22 million in unfunded benefits, and that number goes up each year by about $78,000 or more, he said.

With the annual insurance premium for just individual coverage at $26,000 a year, a 10 percent increase in premiums boosts the cost by $2,600 per employee.

A year or more ago, when he was a member of the board’s Executive Committee, they talked about the high cost of employee benefits, but decided not to reduce the eight years of insurance coverage currently provided for retiring county employees. He had proposed dropping the coverage to six years. However, his motion to that effect at an Executive Committee meeting had support from only one supervisor - himself.

The promise at that time was that there would be a study of the benefit cost. To date, that study has not been done, Guarisco said.

By leaving it as is, Guarisco charged the County Board is “writing a blank check drawn on the accounts of county taxpayers for years to come.” He urged County Board to either take steps to reduce or cap that benefit, or at least budget for it. Right now, that $22 million in unfunded promises to provide future payments is not even listed in any budget report.

In the only roll call votes of the day the board rejected changes in the Personnel Policies and Procedures manual that would have almost entirely removed parent committees from input in to certain parts of the hiring process.

The wording as proposed would have had the position on the agenda for its committee of jurisdiction only as an informational item.

On motion by Supervisor Kathy Just, seconded by Supervisor Mike Behnke, that was changed to have position issues listed as action items on the agenda.

“I feel very uncomfortable...We’re taking the committees out of the circle...We’re destroying the voice of our committees...” Just declared, adding committees need to have a say in who is hired to work in the departments they supervise. As proposed The County Administrator would have the only decision making role, and the committee would have been informed but have no authority to act.

Administrator Ellen Sorensen said the intent was to streamline the hiring process by eliminating a layer of oversight. She said the time spent in filling vacancies poses problems, where recently it took 145 days to fill a Health and Human Services vacancy and 120 days to fill a position in the Sheriff’s Department. The goal was to cut that time to 60 days.

Just countered that they could hold special committee meetings to speed things up if necessary.

“We are the voice of the people,” Just declared.

Supervisor Russ Bauer agreed. He said they had approved the new process that took away County Board oversight of bill paying, “and now you want to take away hiring. Pretty soon you can eliminate the County Board!”

Corporation Counsel Gale Mattison spoke strongly in favor of “streamlining” the hiring process recommended by Sorensen and the Personnel Committee. She said the Personnel Committee and Personnel Department were created to address personnel issues and should be utilized to give more equitable responses to hiring needs and cut down on time and waste, leading toward the goal for “lean government”.

Supervisor Ted Sauve spoke in favor of Just’s amendment, as did Supervisor Al Sauld of Niagara, and Town of Stephenson Supervisor Cheryl Wruk.

“The committees need input on hiring,” declared Supervisor Shirley Kaufman of Marinette. She said there were ways to shorten the process without eliminating committee input.

Sorensen said the wording they were dealing with involved creating positions, not hiring people to fill them.

Just’s amendment was approved with 20 in favor and nine opposed, and then the main motion passed with 21 in favor and eight opposed. Supervisors who opposed Just’s motion to include action by the parent committee were Nick Lakari, Ken Casper, Al Mans, Joe Policello, Bill Walker, Ken Keller, Joe Banaszak and Board Chair Vilas Schroeder. Personnel Committee Chair Connie Seefeldt had left the meeting before the vote was called.

Supervisors was spent the morning listening to numerous reports from department heads and outside agencies. They recognized Crivitz Volunteer Fire Department on its 100th anniversary and saluted Crivitz Fire Chief Stu Swanson for his 46 years with the department. A plaque and copies of the congratulatory proclamation were presented to Swanson by Supervisor Nick Lakari of Crivitz. According to the proclamation, the Crivitz Fire Department was formed in April of 1912, because businessmen and owners of the Crivitz pulp nd Paper Company were concerned about possible fire losses to their properties and there had been major losses of a school and several businesses in the village. For many years, the Crivitz Volunteers were the only fire department in the county west of Marinette and Peshtigo.

Swanson expressed thanks to his wife Sharon for putting up with all the time his fire department work required during his 46 years as a firefighter, many of them as chief.

Supervisors formally expressed appreciation to employees Richard Berlin, retiring after 25 years of service with the Sheriff’s Department; Jennifer Madden, retiring after nearly 25 years with UWEX, and Eric Schultz, retiring after 21 years with the Health and Human Services Department.

Guarisco’s presence at the board meeting had a dual purpose. In addition to his address on unfunded liabilities, he was part of a delegation from Marinette County Tourism Alliance bringing the good news that tourism had brought a record number of dollars into the county last year. The county now ranks 20th among the 72 counties of the state in total tourism dollars earned. Presenting the report, in addition to Guarisco were Tourism Director Jamie Darge of Marinette Area Chamber of Commerce, City of Marinette representative Becky DeWitt, and Jim Brien, representing the Village of Wausaukee.

The board approved County Administrator Sorensen’s selection of Yvonne Ann Brault for appointment to the governing board of the county’s new Aging and Disability Resource Center.

The board approved the proposed budget for MarOco Landfill without change. Next step will be a presentation to co-owner, Oconto County Board.

To become eligible for participation in a UDAG consortium and the funds they may make available, the board approved an ordinance prohibiting housing discrimination. In separate action, they agreed to provide matching funds for Medicaid under the Comprehensive Community Services program for mental health and substance abuse services, and approved transfer of $7,354 from the Jail Assessment Fund to purchase jail backup batteries.

They also authorized the Sheriff’s Department to apply for traffic safety grants of $20,000 each with 25 percent in-kind match requirements for enhanced enforcement of speed, seat belt, and OWI laws.

On recommendation of the Parks and Forestry Committee the county accepted a 24-foot easement along Parkway Road at the west edge of Twin Bridges park from the Town of Stephenson for use as a recreational trail, and approved the 2013 Annual Wruk Plan for the Forestry Department.

Zoning Ordinance amendments requested by Niagara Town Board were approved without argument or dissent.

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