01-21-1991 - Laserfiche WebLink

Comm. Minutes--January 21, 1991 609 SHERIFF DEPARTMENT, Out of state travel for quarterly meetings MOTION, passed Mrs. Toussaint moved and Mr. Risher seconded to approve out of state travel for Lt. Arland Rasmussen to attend Mid- States Organized Crime Information Center quarterly meetings· On roll call vote, motion carried unanimously. PERMIT FOR RAFFLE, Kindred Lion's Club MOTION, passed Mrs. Toussaint moved and Mr. Risher seconded to approve a raffle permit for Kindred Lion's Club to be held March 23, 1991 at the Kindred High School. On roll call vote, the motion carried unanimously. 10. COMMISSION MEETING DATES The schedule of County Commission meeting dates adopted at the last regular meeting will overlap with some Fargo City Commission meeting dates. Mr. Risher said it was not his intention that the two would overlap. He will revise the list and try to have copies available for the next meeting. 11. PERSONNEL DIRECTOR, Geoffrey Riches' employment terminated Mr. Risher made some inquiries and a review of the Personnel Department. He referred to comments made by former States Attorney Robert Hoy in a letter to the County Commission dated December 31, 1990. In his letter, Mr. Hoy said he reviewed the proposed personnel policies and procedures manual prepared by Personnel Director Geoffrey Riches, and the proposed manual is deficient in two important areas, the County's potential for civil liability and the confusion of organizational authority. Mr. Risher said Laurie Hammeren, Personnel Officer for the North Dakota Department of Human Services, began to review the manual but found it unacceptable. In the interest of time and the employees of Cass County, Mr. Risher recommended that the Commission terminate the remainder of the contract with Geoffrey Riches; seek outside qualified help to write a policy manual and employee performance evaluation guidelines; change the Personnel Department to Department of Human Resources, retaining Ginger Kaufman as Personnel Specialist and Renata Gehrke as Benefits Specialist, and create a committee of rotating department heads to oversee this new department. MOTION, passed Mr. Risher moved and Mrs. Toussaint seconded to terminate the employment contract of Geoffrey Riches pursuant to the terms contained in the agreement and relieve him of his responsibilities immediately. Discussion: Mr. Wieland said it is difficult for him to act on this without seeing written documentation from the Department of Human Services as to which specific things are illegal. He wondered how many of the department heads are qualified to handle personnel problems and benefits if they are going to oversee the department on a rotating basis. Also, he said he would like to hear from the present States Attorney.