about having expectations of direct ….

about having expectations of direct cost savings by having these leadership positions, both said there have been savings through increasing efficiencies throughout government functions.

Both also saw the ability to reduce the number of committees, since many of the personnel related decisions were taken out of the board member’s control.

Vernon County District 13 supervisor Alycann Taylor also participated in the meeting and noted that Vernon County had previously had a very “siloed” government where departments stayed within their silos and didn’t share resources. She said this has changed with the administrative coordinator. “Our job is to manage the sharing and manage the overlap,” Trimner said, noting that even before something comes to the committee, they work to see how departments can cooperate, for example in the sharing of major equipment.

He said the board is the one who sets the direction for the county through policy and setting the budget. “You set the expectations, we are there to drive the boat,” Trimner said.

Floyd asked about the length of meetings with them being combined.

Taylor noted her committee meetings average about three hours. She noted that if there were other things that came up, they might have to have special meetings.

She noted that they have done things to streamline meetings such as not having line by line reviews of financial reports at each committee meeting.

Trimner said his county committee meetings average to be less than an hour and a half long. He also gave the example of health insurance and that he works directly with the brokers and makes plan changes to meet the goals set by the county board as far as premiums. “We educate you, so you know what you are approving,” Trimner said.

“Who makes sure the checks and balances are in place?” asked committee member Chuck Zenner. Hanen explained they report the major expenditures in each department in a report form and supervisors can always ask questions.

“We are non-partisan, we are here to do the bidding of the board,” Trimner said, noting that periodically there are calls to cut the administrator position to save money, but he also noted that in Price County’s $34 million budget cutting any one position won’t make a noticeable impact on anyone’s tax bill.

Bub noted that Taylor County currently does many of the efficiency recommendations that the speakers from other counties said they implemented and that they give department heads the authority to make purchases in their budgets.

Bub said he is not ready for a full-time administrator and would like to try an empowered part-time administrative coordinator. Zenner said he agreed with trying by giving the administrative coordinator more authority.

“About 80% of [Trimner’s] job is human resources,” noted Floyd, of the value of having the position with human resources director. She supported having a person looking to find efficiencies.

“I don’t think we are that far behind,” said county board chair Jim Metz. He said he thinks the department heads are being more efficient and working more closely together. He said he would like to see the county add duties to the coordinator position and a try it for a year or two and assess from there.

Bub said the number one goal is with ensuring that county policies are being uniformly enforced consistently from one department to another. He said it is important that the rules are the same for all employees.

“We can make believe they are but that is a bunch of fill in the blank,” Bub said.

One of the goals with empowering the administrative coordinator/human resources director would be to make the personnel committee meet very seldomly. Without personnel issues, committee members noted many of the other committees could likewise reduce the number of meetings.

The recommendation from the committee will go to the full county board for additional discussion and possible action.