County talks paid time off, succession planning, trail grooming

Taylor County employees will likely see changes in the way vacation and sick days are handled.

Members of the county’s finance and personnel committee on October 12 gave their approval to employee handbook changes that would see a switch to paid-time off (PTO) for benefit time.

The move is projected to save the county money from not having to pay out on retirement or when employees leave employment for unused sick time. While current employees with unused sick time will still retain that benefit time to be paid out at a future time, they will no longer be able to add to those banked days.

Under the new system, county employees will accrue PTO hours based on the rate for their position rather than receiving a set number of vacation and sick days to use each year.

According to human resources director Nicole Hager, in directing the human resources department to look into making the changes, the county’s executive committee had three goals. The goals were to ensure staff retained benefits at least equal to what they have, that it mitigate financial impact to the county and that it provide consistency across all employees.

The plan was presented to the executive committee on September 27 and was approved in principle and went to the committee to go into the handbook. The full county board will be asked to vote on it at next week’s meeting. If approved it will go into effect in 2024.

“We tried to simplify it a lot,” said human resources assistant Rachel Ogle.

“The old one was complicated,” said committee chairman Chuck Zenner.

“Thank you for your leadership in navigating through the process,” said committee member Lynn Rosemeyer to Hager and Ogle.

Not everyone was happy with the proposed changes. A sheriff’s department dispatch center employee at the meeting said the change was senseless and seems like a waster of time after a handful of board members got upset over a few high payouts to longterm employees.

He said it was all written out in the contracts and handbook. He said the county should be focusing on something more important like the ambulance service rather than messing with the vacation and sick leave.

In addition to the changes in the vacation and sick leave portions of the handbook, Hager proposed changes to the handbook for bereavement leave to increase it to five days of bereavement for close relations and three days for extended relations. An additional change is to make New Years Eve a full day off rather than a half day.

Committee members approved the changes, sending them to the full county board for final action.

The county will be doing a full external search to replace long-time county finance director Larry Brandl when he retires in April 2024.

Committee members voted to go with the external search rather than follow the succession plan that has been unofficially in place for several years with accountant Tracy Hartwig being trained to fill the position. Brandl came to the meeting asking to fill the position so that they could have overlap and a seamless transition.

“I think it is fair to give her the position,” Zenner said, noting she has been working to learn the position.

Rosemeyer suggested the county should post the position to see what is available. “Tracy may be the best candidate,” she said, but noted there may be others within the county interested in it.

Hager noted the county handbook allows for the promotion to internal positions and that it is entirely up to the committee on how they want to handle it.

Typically department heads are hired by the oversight committees. In the case of the finance director, this is the finance and personnel committee.

Brandl said he would like to be involved in the hiring process as they go forward.

Human Services director Suzanne Stanfley said the transition may be a good time to reorganize functions so that things like payroll are under the finance department rather than in the clerk’s office.

Brandl noted that it probably fit better under human resources. He explained that the payroll position serves the back up for accounts payable and vice versa.

Committee member Rollie Thums said he supported opening it up for a full external posting. He said he wanted to give Hartwig the opportunity to shine through the process because of her experience and knowledge. “I would like to see her shine,” he said.

Brandl still expressed reservations of conducting a search rather than going through with the succession plan. He said if the county opens it up externally and hires someone from outside, they should be prepared to do it every few years because of the trend of people changing positions.

Committee members approved going with the full external recruitment.

Taylor County will continue to include snowmobile club trail grooming equipment and structures under the county’s general property insurance.

For many years the county has had an agreement with the snowmobile grooming association and two other snowmobile clubs to include the trail grooming equipment and storage sheds under the county’s blanket property insurance with the clubs reimbursing the county for the cost of the insurance.

According to forest administrator Jake Walcisak, this arrangement has been going on for at least 30 years and that in the 11 years he has been with the county there has not been a claim made. He said no one could recall a claim ever having been made.

While clubs carry their one general liability insurance, the main reason for them to go under the county umbrella for property insurance is cost. Under the county’s policy, the cost for the insurance is $1,086 per year. The individual clubs received quotes of $4,000 to $7,500 per year if they got their own property insurance.

Walcisak said such an increase would be a huge hit for the snowmobile organizations who exist to maintain the trail system in the county. Trail maintenance and development is paid for through user fees in the form of snowmobile registration and a portion of the gas tax which are then paid out to counties in the form of grants. The funds are then spread among clubs for trail miles maintained.

The insurance issue arose recently after a potential claim last winter caused the county’s insurance provider to suggest the county should not be insuring property that is not directly within their control. Hager noted the county bills out to the clubs for their portion of the premiums and that they regularly pay those bills.

According to Walcisak, the state of Wisconsin estimated that snowmobiling has a $250 million impact annually on the economy. Increasing the amount paid into insurance by the clubs would decrease the money available for trail maintenance costs.

He explained that last year, they had a windshield break on a groomer which led the snowmobile groups to consider a claim, but when they found the cost of the repair would be $2,300 with a $2,000 deductible the determination was made to just cover the cost.

Hager suggested having a memorandum of agreement with the snowmobile groups to clarify that it is the responsibility of the groups to cover the deductible on any claim. Walcisak said the clubs would be supportive of this.

Mildbrand expressed concern about continuing the coverage under the county umbrella and suggested it would be better for the groups to have their own property insurance and that the county may want to look into using Power Line Impact Fee funds to assist the groups with the additional expense. Brandl questioned this noting that eventually that money will be gone.

Rosemeyer noted snowmobiling “It is not really costing us any money,” Zenner said, supporting continuing allowing the county to cover the property insurance.

Thums noted that in effect the county is giving snowmobile clubs a $4,000 to $7,000 donation for allowing them to be under the county’s insurance umbrella.

In the end, committee members voted to keep things the same with the addition of a memo covering the deductible expense.

In other business, committee members approved hiring the auditing firm Milliman for a required actuarial valuation of the county’s other post employment benefits (OPEB) at a cost of $11,800 this is the same price as it was when the study was last done two years ago. According to Brandl, there are currently five to six people covered by the county’s OPEB at this time. Regardless of the number, the study needs to be completed every two years for audit purposes. Milliman has done the study for the county since the rule requirement for it came into effect in 2008.

Finance director

Trail grooming property insurance

is a large part of the local economy and that clubs already struggle to keep the trails maintained. “I have a hard time taking that away from them,” she said.

“The clubs are willing to be creative to make this work,” Walcisak said. He noted that while the model used in Taylor County is the most common around the state, it is not the only one.