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2017-116-Minutes for Meeting March 22,1984 Recorded 3/23/2017Recorded in Deschutes County CJ2017-116 Nancy Blankenship, County Clerk Commissioners'Journal 03/23/2017 11:53:45 AM For Recording Stamp Only Deschutes County Board of Commissioners Bend, Oregon DESCHUTES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS Audio Cassette Recording Titled: Joint Meeting of Board of Commissioners and Department Heads. March 22, 1984, 1:00-3:15 PM A meeting of the Board of County Commissioners was held on March 22, 1984. Commissioners present were Albert Young and Lois Prante. Larry Tuttle was unable to attend. Also present were County Counsel Rick Isham, Clerk Susie Penhollow, and Ralph (?), a representative of the Library District. Ralph (?) said he wanted to review some things that are going on at this time. There are some agreements they will need to deal with before June 30, including that the La Pine Library will have to move out of its modular building, since the School District wants it back. They have an annex next to it that they are turning over to a community group; that building has a lot more space and has utilities that are not in the current modular. They look forward to this serving the needs of the library for several years. They expect they may end up having to pay for to cover maintenance and utilities. The school district has been paying for this all along. It is hard to know what this cost is since it is all on the same meter. He has asked the power company about a new meter. Transcription of Audio Recording of Joint Meeting — BOCC & Dept. Heads Page 1 of 7 The other issue is the Sisters Library, to formalize the relationship between the County and the City, like they did with Redmond. Their operations are slightly different but they need to formalize what they are already doing. County Legal Counsel has recommended this. The grant that the Library District approved for fell through. Many of the objectives were to set up a cooperative relationship with the other regional libraries and the Community College. They will continue to try to pursue this as time permits. Commissioner Prante asked how well they are staffed. Ralph said they can function but there is not a lot of room for more work. They provide additional services as they are able. They use the standards of the Library Association as much as possible. They should probably have one staff member for every 2,000 people served. This would mean 32 to 34 people, but they have 24. They are running behind what is recommended. He feels they are doing well in any case, but they would be better off with four or five more staff. Two staff would fill the immediate needs. There is no money in the budget for any more staff, so he will be requesting this in the next budget. The serial levy is up in 1986, two more years. This is an advantage for planning, but it is a disadvantage to have to go out for another levy. About every three years people forget the need. Any new leases have to keep this in mind. Mr. Young said the Library Board has not always agreed on how to operate. (There was a long discussion about how to handle the next levy, the needs of the Library District, strategy regarding the level of service, and other issues.) The group then discussed at length funding for a new library, and how the State's policy enter into this. They would like to see 40,000 square feet. The College has a library, but many people feel it is too inconvenient to use. This Library District is the most efficiently run in the State. Transcription of Audio Recording of Joint Meeting — BOCC & Dept. Heads Page 2 of 7 Mr. Young asked about fundraisers. Ralph said that fundraising in general is very hard to do and probably would not generate nearly enough for a new building. He said they plan to do a countywide survey soon to find out what people expect. The next update was from County Counsel. Mr. Isham said they are getting a handle on local improvement district issues. Some of these go back a long way and were not handled properly at the time by the then County Clerk. All were recorded and are public record, the system allowed for the Road Department and others to get involved, and there was no regular billing cycle. Some of the billings ended up being in arrears. The collection rate has gone up over the past couple of years. A few will end up letting this go into default on a regular basis. Some of them have financial problems that go back to when the developer had the properties. They don't want to do what the City of Springfield had to do, take over some of the developments. The County has set up a graduated payment schedule for some of the LID's. They don't want to have to foreclose properties and sell them for taxes. It takes years to go through this process. (There was a long discussion about the technicalities and background of LIDs, how they are formed, and some of the problem properties. They also discussed a new computer system that might help with this issue.) Susie Penhollow, County Clerk, discussed a variety of issues with the Board. She was advised that County Counsel explained the LID issue already. She said that the computer is not ready to deal with any of this just yet. She wants more computer time allotted to the Clerk's Office. Ms. Prante said they will be meeting with departments one at a time to determine how much time each one needs, and how to allocate the computerizing of the County. Transcription of Audio Recording of Joint Meeting — BOCC & Dept. Heads Page 3 of 7 Ms. Penhollow wants to meet with Dave Peterson sooner to figure out how to handle the computer needs of the Clerk, including the docket and the Commissioners' Journal. Ms. Penhollow asked if there is any availability for departments to use MasterCharge when they travel to meetings or conventions. Mr. Young said they can use a County VISA card. Ms. Penhollow asked if the policy is now that they can also use a County vehicle. For a while everyone was told to use their own cars but she would rather use the County's. Mr. Young said she could. The Commissioners have two County vehicles. Ms. Penhollow then spoke about the lack of security. She keeps the voting machine locked up, but she does not like to have to put everything in a safe overnight and bring it back out again in the morning. She is concerned about access to the building and that the walls in her department are just plasterboard and not concrete. She would like to make the exhibit room into a private office that is more secure. (There was a long discussion about the room, adding windows and other security issues.) They spoke about getting a new fax machine so they can reach the press more easily. Ms. Penhollow said she is concerned about the primary election and the fact that she has no extra help in her budget to handle this. They need someone to sit down and register voters to begin with, two weeks in advance. They also have to mail out absentee voters. An extra person costs $5.15 per hour. The ballot counting machine is in desperate need of repair. They have done what they can but don't have a service contract to cover much. They only come once a year. It will cost $300 a year for a maintenance agreement. For $750 they can also get the machine's memory updated. The computer can be upgraded as well to 16K, since it now takes sixty hours to program it. A new one costs about $6,000, but it would be much more help with the press and save staffing costs. Transcription of Audio Recording of Joint Meeting — BOCC & Dept. Heads Page 4 of 7 Tom Howe, District Attorney, then met with the Board. Mr. Prante talked about people having mental health issues that have to be dealt with, and this can happen any day of the week so staff ends up putting in weekend hours. The departments have been talking about closing to the public for a certain period of time, to make up the difference. They would still come in at 7:30 and go home at 5:30, but instead of opening at 8, they would open at 9. This would allow some downtime to take care of work. Or they could start later and go on a 37-1/2 hour schedule. They would work six hours on Fridays. Their problem is accomplishing the work in 40 hours a week. Most of their work is preparation for court. They end up having to do this with court appearances, with a variable time schedule. They don't know the Court docket until maybe an afternoon ahead of tirne. It is like a Chinese fire drill. Ms. Prante said the D.A. is not the only one suffering from needing 40 plus hours for work. Every department has the same problem. Mr. Howe stated that they have some built-in problems. The D.A.'s office should never have been included in the personnel rules of the County. This includes the 40 -hour work week and comp time. Ms. Prante asked if they want to see flex time instead. Mr. Howe replied that he didn't say this. You don't hire professionals by the hour on a 40 -hour work week. You hire them on an annual salary to do a job so it doesn't matter how long it takes them to do the job. When you put them in the same system with janitors, you create an unnecessary problem. (There was a long discussion about this idea.) Ms. Prante asked if this would eliminate the comp time problem. Mr. Young said he is talking about paying a straight salary. He asked if they would accept this. Mr. Howe stated that ether counties don't have them classified with everyone else. They get paid for the job by the year. Multnomah County had the same issue and the department ended up unionizing. Now they have big problems. Transcription of Audio Recorcing of Joint Meeting — BOCC & Dept. Heads Page 5 of 7 Mr. Young asked if they made this change, how long it would take for the attorneys to decide they are working too many hours and also decide to unionize. Mr. Howe said there are only four people and he doesn't think they would. If there is a good working relationship with adequate pay, they will do the job. He can take care of people who don't perform. Ms. Prante said that if they cut County hours and salary by 10%, throughout the County, and expect the Deputy D.A.'s to still come in 40 hours a week, there will be an issue. The only way to make this possible is to not have a comp time aspect to it. Their 36 hours can be spent however they need to get the job done. It is not fair to then have them take a 10% cut in pay. Mr. Howe said that they can't tell them to work more hours for the same money, or eliminate comp time. They can be paid a certain amount for the job with no comp time or overtime. Ms. Prante stated that these jobs are open-ended. In private practice, someone might put in 60 hours a week. Essentially, to do the job, there is a basic rule of thumb of 40 hours. Mr. Howe said that the only demand is that they do an excellent job, no matter how long it takes. He added that he will monitor how the job is done and will deal with any issues that arise. He said he has worked in this kind of situation in the past. Some people quit, but others were efficient and did the job. Ms. Prante is worried about the impact to the rest of the County and how this would be perceived. Mr. Young said they can't put the D.A. back on full pay with everyone else on reduced pay. They have equal problems with the Mental Health group. Mr. Howe feels they can do this if they are removed from the personnel rules and the pay sc,�!(. Ms. Prante does not feel prepared to respond to this idea. Mr. Howe said that this would force him to cut back on the workload. There have to he lin,)itations. Ms. Prante said that regarding essential functions, the most comparable is Mental Health. These are thiiigs that can't wait. If things are not filed quickly at the Clerk's office, here are issues with that. Everyone has their own priorities. Transcription of Audio I Aing of Joint Meeting — BOCC & Dept. Heads Page 6 of 7 Ms. Prante said they will think about it. The climate of cooperation is less than she would like to see. They have to deal with the 36 -hour work week no matter what. Mr. Howe stated that he wants to maintain a level of service. Ms. Prante replied that no one has been able to do this lately. Mr. Howe said that if Lhey are going to continue offering service, they need more help or more Fours. Mr. Young is hoping for a better turnout at the next election so they can go for a fh<7se for services. (There was then a long discussion about how to work to make the election favorable to the County.) 1 certify that the ohove is a true and accurate record of a meeting, as reproduced from a cassette tape ideritifierl os Minutes of a Joint Meeting of the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners and Del, ritImen t Heads, held on March 22, 1984. This record was completed subsequent to the presiding Deschutes County Board of Commissioners' tenure. Bonnie Baker For the Boarrd crCnu;ssioners Transcription of Audio Recording of Joint Meeting — BOCC & Dept. Heads Page 7 of 7