2. Merit system amendments - Laserfiche WebLink

CASSCOUN1Y GOVERNMENT ..I.. TO County Administrator Bonnie Johnson Box 2806 211 Ninth Street South Fargo, North Dakota 58108 701-241-5720 Fax: 701-297-6020 www.casscountynd.gov MEMO Cass County Commissioners FROM: Bonnie Johnson Cass County Administrator DATE: April 16, 2008 SUBJECT: PROPOSED NORTH DAKOTA ADMINISTRATIVE CODE MERIT SYSTEM AMENDMENTS ---------------------------------------------------------------- In January, 2008, all commissioners and I received an email from Kathy Hogan, Social Services Director, outlining proposed administrative rules in the state merit system. The proposed rules were being written nearly a year after Senate Bill 2321 was passed into law, (during the last legislative session), that allows counties to opt out of the state merit system. It was my understanding the legislative intent was to allow the state and local jurisdictions to stream line personnel systems to ensure equitable operational procedures for the counties. However, after reviewing the proposed regulations attached to Kathy Hogan's email, I had questions about whether the legislative intent was being followed. At that time, I contacted Terry Traynor at the North Dakota Association of Counties to discuss the "unfunded mandates" and I spoke with Senator Tom Fischer, Chairman of the Administrative Rules Committee. Further, I scheduled this item on our February 4, 2008, agenda at which time commissioners engaged in a discussion of the issues. I am enclosing a copy of the commission minutes from the February 4, 2008, meeting as Exhibit 1. The commission directed me to prepare written testimony for submission to the hearing officer with regard to these issues. I did so and that letter and all of its attachments are appended to this document as Exhibit 2. As the State Human Resource Management Services (HRMS) began to understand some of our concerns at Cass County, they quickly sent out amendments on two of the proposed rules that Cass County found objectionable. Those changes on Articles 4-07-12-13 and 4-07-13-12 are attached as Exhibit 3. As you can see, the "may" was changed to "shall regarding the accrual of annual leave and sick leave, but was quickly reversed by the state agency as an unfunded mandate on local government. Several other changes that Cass County anticipated might also be corrected were left unchanged. These include the following sections: 4-07-12-04 regarding the annual leave accrual schedule; 4-07-12-12 regarding annual leave and re-employment; 4-07-11-07 regarding re-employment following a reduction in force.