Merging services

The pieces continue to fall into place as Taylor County works to separate from the Aging and Disability Resource Center of the Northwoods and merge local ADRC services with the existing Commission on Aging (COA).

On Monday, members of the county’s personnel committee reviewed new job descriptions for what will be the ADRC of Taylor County. The new county agency will replace both the COA and the ADRC of the Northwoods in serving members of the aging and disabled community.

COA director Jenn Viergutz will continue to be the director of the combined department. In assuming additional responsibilities for the ADRC, she has had to pass along some of her other duties to other staff members.

In total, three additional staff members will be added to the county from the merger. However, these positions are funded through state and federal grants.

Viergutz explained that the next impact to the county as far as wages would be around $8,000 and would be due to making the half-time dementia specialist full-time by assigning them additional job responsibilities.

Viergutz explained that this was included in the budget that was presented to the budget review committee during the budget process. The county was able to minimize the impact of adding the staff members because Viergutz and other existing staff members will be able to have half of their pay come from ADRC grant funds.

One of the challenges moving forward will be in adjusting staff who previously worked for the ADRC of the Northwoods to working for Taylor County. This will potentially have an impact on the pay and benefits packages offered to the employees.

See COUNTY on page 4 County human resources manager Nicole Hager told committee members that they wanted to wait to get confirmation from the state that the merger plans would be approved before having the positions formally reviewed to put on the county pay scales.

She said the biggest difference she anticipates will be with the benefits. The employees in the ADRC previously had their insurance almost entirely paid for, while Taylor County employees pay for a share of their policies. The new employees would fall under the county’s existing benefits package rules.

Hager said she wanted to get approval from the committee before extending any offers, although she noted that there would be a benefit to the county to retain the previous ADRC of the Northwoods staff members.

The plan is to have those employees become Taylor County employees as of December 29 which would be in advance of the ADRC of the Northwoods formally dissolving on December 31. By doing it this way, the existing employees will be eligible for county health insurance beginning January 1.

“It benefits us all if they roll over,” Viergutz said of wanting to retain the ADRC of the Northwoods staff members who are currently working with clients in Taylor County.

Another change with the merger will be changes in the governance of the office. The commission on aging board is set by code to include seven community members representing specific groups served by the department as well as two county board members. Board members will need to apply to be reappointed to the new ADRC of Taylor County board.

Committee member Scott Mildbrand questioned having just two county board members on the board noting there are some who feel that all county committees should have a majority of county board members on them.

Viergutz said she believes it was a state regulation regarding the make-up of the board with the lay members.

In other action related to the COA, Hager noted that in the past, the county had not accounted for the nutrition site managers and substitutes in their departmental authorizations. These employees classify as part-time rather than casual and she said they should be included in the authorizations for the department.

In the end, the county code authorization for the department will go from 6 to 11 to account for the additional ADRC staff members as well as the existing nutrition site employees.

In other business, committee members:

• Approved changing the staffing authorization for the Register of Deeds office to include the existing position shared between that office, human resources and the clerk’s office. The position had previously been in place but was removed last year when it was vacant, but the funds were included in the budget for the office.

• Received word that the hiring process for the chief deputy position is underway. With Corey Dassow being appointed sheriff, the county has 10 days to appoint someone as chief deputy. Hager said she anticipated the hiring to be from within and could ultimately lead to hiring a patrol deputy.