01-10-1989 - Laserfiche WebLink

175 Glenn Ellingsberg presented a contractual agreement between Cass County and U.S. West Communications concerning the emergency 911 system. He stated that the dollars coming back from the rural areas will offset the cost of the system, and the remainder of the County will not be burdened with the cost of the rural 911 system. Mr. Shannon requested an additional week's time to review the background on this. Sheriff Don Rudnick updated the Commissioners on a letter which they received in December from Jim Thoreson of his department expressing concern about the County's current sick leave policy and grievances filed by two employees in his department. The County is in the process of updating the personnel policy and procedures manual, and Mr. Eckert stated that he hopes it will be completed within a month. Mr. Grover Diemert from Centre, Inc. appeared before the Board to request Cass County to be the pass-through agency for a matching grant fro~ the Office of Attorney General for Centre, Inc. to provide services to drug-dependent offenders. Mr. Shannon moved and Mr. Wieland seconded that Cass County be the pass-through agency for anti-drug abuse grant funds for 1988 as requested by Centre, Inc. of Fargo, which is a half-way house; subject to Centre, Inc. agreeing to the appropriate indemnification of the County by contract if they are successful in the grant process, and subject to approval of the contract by the States Attorney. On roll call vote, the motion carried unanimously. Richard Offutt, Director of Administrative Services, appeared before the Board at the Chairman's request to provide an update on the policy and procedures manual. He recommended that the County Commission form a committee of department heads, employees, and Commissioners to go through the working policy which he, Bob Black of Eide Helmeke Company, and Personnel Technician Sandra Brumfield have been working on. In answer to a question from Mrs. Toussaint, Bob Black stated that he reviewed the County's policy manual about one year ago to point out.areas that needed improvement and he will provide a copy of that report to newly el,trod Commissioners Toussaint and Shannon. He stated that he was then requested to assist with rewriting the manual as needed with arrangements to be paid on an hourly basis. He stated that a majority of the work was done by Mr. Offutt and Sandra Brumfield. Mrs. Toussaint asked if there has been input from County department heads, and she stated that she feels this is a very important issue and has taken far too long to complete. Mr. Shannon moved and Mrs. Toussaint seconded to instruct Richard Offutt to deliver whatever part of the policy manual he has completed by January 31st in order to begin the review process. Motion carried. Bob Black reported on the status of the job classification study and requested permission to visit with department heads to show them the completed stUdy before providing it to the County Commission. He requested one hour on the Commission agenda to review it with the Commission, and the date was set for January 31st. At the urging of department heads, Mr. Eckert asked Mr. Black to explain the study to them at least one week ahead of the Commission meeting.