County OKs bump in starting vacation time for new hire

After a brief closed session, members of the county’s finance and personnel committee on Monday approved granting an additional five days of vacation as a condition of hiring Justin Meyer for the land information department.

Meyer’s acceptance of the position was conditional on having the additional vacation time. While the county department heads and human resources personnel have some leeway in negotiating wages for new hires in the county, variations from the personnel policy for things like vacation or wages above the mid-point in the pay rating for the position have to be approved by the finance and personnel committee.

If he accepts the position, Meyer will fill a vacancy in the department due to retirement.

In other business, committee members reviewed the human resources budget for the coming year. Members questioned the contracted services amount.

Human Resources Director Nicole Hager said she did not have the actual amount of the increase from the law firm the county contracts with for its routine legal needs when she was preparing the budget so estimated an $8,000 increase.

Committee chairman Chuck Zenner said he thought that was higher than needed and it was lowered to a 2% increase, about $2,480 over last year.

Hager noted there were some additional expenses in outside costs for this year having to do with a recent independent medical examination and a cancellation fee related to that examination.

“We exceeded that budget item this year, but expect it to be returned to normal next year,” she said.

She highlighted a handful of minor changes in the proposed budget and committee members voted to approve it. It will be considered as part of the overall county budget as part of budget sessions scheduled for early September.

Committee members also discussed setting a regular meeting date for the joint committee. Finance director Larry Brandl noted the meeting needs to be earlier in the month to ensure action is taken on invoices in a timely manner. “Otherwise it gets too far between when things need to get acted on,” he said.

In the past the finance committee was scheduled to meet every two weeks with the personnel to meet as needed. With the combined and larger committee, scheduling is more of a challenge.

After some discussion, committee members set the regular meeting to take place at 11:30 a.m. on the second Tuesday of the month.