Administration and County Services Committee
Jerroll Drenth		Michael Crawford, Chairman	Laura Stanek
February 7, 2008
Minutes
Members Present:	Jerroll Drenth and Mike Crawford
Members Absent:	Laura Stanek
Others Present:	Pete Garwood, Jack White, Sherry Comben (left @ 4:05 p.m.) and   Patty Niepoth (left @ 4:15 p.m.)
1.        Meeting called to order at 12:35 p.m.
2.       Bellaire Computer Center (BCC)
Steve Groll, BCC, presented a year end report (2007) and a January report of their IT activities.
3.       Forestry
Mike Meriwether, Forester, joined the meeting.  Mr. Meriwether presented a draft contract between the County and the Antrim Conservation District for county forestry.  He explained that the State funding has ceased.  This is an opportunity for the County to figure out if they want to have and fund a forestry program.
Motion by Mike Crawford, supported by Jerroll Drenth, to recommend the Finance Committee find the funding to support a Forestry Program.
Motion Carried – Unanimous.
Motion by Mike Crawford, supported by Jerroll Drenth to recommend the Parks Committee consider using the forester in the parks program possibly as the director.  Motion Carried – Unanimous.
4.       Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee Appointment
The committee reviewed two interest notification forms for a seat on the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee.
Motion by Jerroll Drenth, supported by Mike Crawford, to recommends the Chair of the Board of Commissioners appoint Allen Pecar to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee.
5.       Antrim Creek Natural Area (ACNA) Commission Appointment
Mr. Garwood informed the Committee that Banks Township has sent notification of their desire to have Gary Strange re-appointed to the ACNA Commission.
Motion by Jerroll Drenth, supported by Mike Crawford, to recommends the Chair of the Board of Commissioners confirm Gary Strange to the ACNA Commission.
Motion Carried – Unanimous.
6.       Benefits for Life
Peter Garwood, Coordinator/Planner informed the Committee about a program that is being offered through the State and also sponsored by Michigan Association of Counties (MAC) for the employees.  The program called “Benefits for Life” offers such optional benefits as Universal Life Insurance, Critical Illness Insurance and Auto and Home Insurance.  The Committee decided to wait for a decision until Mike Crawford and Pete Garwood had a chance to discuss the program with MAC representatives.

7.       Supervisor Training

Motion by Mike Crawford, supported by Jerroll Drenth, to recommend the Finance Committee find the dollars and the Board of Commissioners approve $7,000 for supervisor training.  Motion Carried – Unanimous.

8.       Mileage Reimbursement Rate

Motion by Jerroll Drenth, supported by Mike Crawford to recommend the Board of Commissioners increase the mileage reimbursement rate to 50.5 cents per mile.

Motion Carried – Unanimous.

9.       Drug and Alcohol Policy

No action taken.

10.     Meadowbrook Medical Care Facility – Worker’s Compensation

Discussion took place regarding MBMCF’s choice for worker’s compensation insurance.

11.     Resolutions – Kalkaska County Water Use

No action taken.

12.     Re-classification

Wendy Aldrich, Chief Deputy joined the meeting to discuss her re-classification request.

Ms. Aldrich left the meeting. The Committee asked Ms. Comben for input. She supported

Ms. Aldrich's re-classification request.  No action was taken at this time.

Mr. Massey, Building Official joined the meeting, and on behalf of Ron Wood, Plan Reviewer, presented his re-classification request. Mr. Wood was unavailable today.

13.     Payout of Personal Time

Sheriff Terry Johnson, Dan Bean, Undersheriff and Jan Jenson, Jail Nurse joined the meeting. Undersheriff Bean informed the Committee that in the past he and Ms. Jenson were paid 100% for their unused personal days.

Motion by Mike Crawford, supported by Jerroll Drenth, to recommend the Board of Commissioners approve the same arrangement for payout of the Undersheriff’s and Jail Nurse’s personal days as is included in the bargaining unit contracts in the Sheriff Department, retroactive to the 2007 payout. Motion Carried – Unanimous.

14.     Sherriff Department

Correction Officer Vacancy:

Due to the retirement of Jack Patton and the transfer of Trish Pratt back into the Deputies/Dispatchers Unit, there exist two vacancies in the Corrections Officer classification.

Motion by Jerroll Drenth, s upported by Mike Crawford, to recommend the Board of Commissioners release the funds and authorize the hiring process for two corrections officer positions.  Motion Carried – Unanimous.

Sheriff Johnson explained that Karen Thomas, office manager has indicated a desire to transfer into a correction officer position.  When that happens he intends to fill the office manager position with Chris James who is currently the secretary in the department. 

Motion by Jerroll Drenth, s upported by Mike Crawford, to recommend the Board of Commissioners release the funds and authorize the hiring process for the office manager and secretary positions in the Sherriff office. Motion Carried – Unanimous.

Dispatch - Sheryl Kosal Wages:

Sheriff Johnson informed the Committee that he has re-hired a former dispatcher as a dispatcher.  He also indicated that when she left it was to dispatch for the State police.  He requested to increase her to third year wages.  Mr. Garwood indicated the Union would have to be consulted.

Motion by Jerroll Drenth, supported by Mike Crawford, to recommend the Board of Commissioners approve increasing Sheryl Kosal’s wage to the 1 year step and when her combined experience (State and County) equals three years that she be moved to the 3 year step (dispatcher). Motion Carried – Unanimous.

15.     Commission on Aging (COA)

Carol Mitchell joined the meeting and requested an increase of 2.5% for all the COA part-time irregular employees except the homemaker in which she is requesting 3.5% (same as the Union employees in the COA).

Motion by Jerroll Drenth, supported by Mike Crawford, to recommend the Board of Commissioners approve a 2.5% increase for all part-time irregular employees of the COA except that the homemaker position shall receive a 3.5% increase, retroactive to January 1, 2008. Motion Carried – Unanimous.

16.     Probate Court

Judge Norman Hayes joined the meeting.

Early Retirement:

The Committee reviewed a communication from the Judge, in which he proposed an early retirement mechanism.

Motion by Mike Crawford, supported by Jerroll Drenth, to recommend the Board of Commissioners approve a payout of $4,000 to any collective bargaining unit employee in the Probate Court who has at least 30 years of credited service through the Michigan Municipal Employees Retirement System (MERS), is at least age 64 and permanently separates employment from Antrim County between March 1 and March 15, 2008.  This action will be contingent on favorable review from labor council and the Union and an agreement to not replace the position for at least a one month period.  Motion Carried – Unanimous.

17.     Probate Court - Unrepresented

Judge Hayes and the Committee discussed the compensation of the two unrepresented positions in the Probate Court.

Motion by Jerroll Drenth, supported by Mike Crawford, to recommend the Board of Commissioners consider the juvenile officer/court administrator and the judicial secretary/court reporter as non-comparable and receive the non-comparable wage increase (2.6%) retroactive to January 1, 2008. Motion Carried – Unanimous.

18.     Network Update

Valerie Craft, Network Engineer, joined the meeting and gave an update on the network, server and phone installation.

19.     Spam Filtering

Ms. Craft presented a cost from Common Sense Computing for spam filtering of $59.00 a month.

Motion by Mike Crawford, supported by Jerroll Drenth, to recommend the Finance Committee and the Board of Commissioners approve a cost of $59.00 a month for a spam filtering service through Common Sense Computing. 

Motion Carried – Unanimous.

20.     Network Engineer

Call in Pay:

The Committee reviewed a draft policy for call-in pay for the network engineer for those times on weekends, holidays, after hours or during a vacation when the network engineer gets called into work or has to initiate repairs to the network and associated equipment from a remote location.  The policy was modeled after union language or policy in other departments in the County.

Motion by Jerroll Drenth, supported by Mike Crawford, to recommend approval of the policy for, “Call-in Pay for the Network Engineer for After Hours or Scheduled/Prearranged Days Off (e.g. Holidays, Vacations)”.

Motion Carried – Unanimous.

Stipend:

The Committee had recommended a stipend of $2,066/year for the Network Engineer in December of 2007.  Commissioner Larry Bargy had asked that a vote on the stipend be delayed and requested the Administration and County Services Committee review the action once again.

Motion by Mike Crawford, supported by Jerroll Drenth, to recommend the Board of Commissioners increase the stipend for the Network Engineer to $2,066 (from $1,033). Motion Carried – Unanimous.

Meeting adjourned at 4:50 p.m.