Personnel Committee Accomplishments: UPDATED

Please note that the CSEA contract and the MSD study have been approved by all parties, a major achievement by the County Administrator, the Personnel Department, and the legislature.


MSD (Municipal Service Division) study
- Will set pay levels for county employees in line with the market
- The process was started in 2001 with a promised date of completion of 2003 by the prior Democratic-controlled legislature; it will be completed by the Republican-controlled legislature in 2005
- UPDATE: The MSD study was completed and approved on October 20, 2005, and works hand-in-hand with the new CSEA contract to ensure that our county workers will be paid a competitive wage, limiting, we expect, the exodus of workers that we train in Cortland to neighboring counties

CSEA contract and management compensation
- UPDATE: The union voted in favor of the new 5-year contract, and the legislature unanimously approved it on October 20

Revised the rules of legislature:
- Changed meeting times for committees to early morning so that legislators can attend meetings and still get to their jobs
- Each committee meets once a month instead of two
- There is one legislative session per month instead of two
- The time of the legislative session is Thursday at 6 pm, allowing people with jobs to work and still be legislators, and allowing citizens to attend
- Absence equals a "no" vote (it used to be counted as a "yes")

Rewrote the county e-mail policy
- to prevent abuse and wasted time at work

Budgeted for capital expenses in Data Processing
- Bonding for items such as computers and printers in the past was often done; many times, the life of the bond exceeded the useful life of the equipment, so we were still paying for things we could no longer use

Health Insurance Policy
- We changed carriers from Blue Cross/Blue Shield to RMSCO, saving over $1 million in premiums alone in the first year.
- County employees received a 10% reduction in health insurance premium.
- A stop loss provision was added; the absence of such a stop-loss cost the county $900,000 on a single claim a couple of years ago.
- We no longer have to float a "security bond" for health insurance (this was a $1.5 million bond with an associated annual cost of about $30,000)
- We retrieved $1.3 million from BC/BS in security holdings with more money still to be returned

Media & public relations
- Agendas are put out in a timely matter for the benefit of the media, the legislators, and the public
- Draft copies of meeting minutes are sent out via e-mail, usually the same day as the meeting, and posted timely to the county web site (http://www.cortland-co.org)

City, Towns, Villages, and Schools
- All taxing entities meet monthly to improve cooperation

MUNIS (County's Municipal Software system)
- Completed accounting training for at least 45 employees
- Instituted procedures to ensure training of all employees (new hires and current workers)

Consolidation of purchasing
- For example, we instituted a blanket copier maintenance agreement and purchased all new copiers, while saving more than $24,000 per year

HAVA (Help America Vote Act)
- We are working with the Board of Elections to select new voting machines and ensure that the public will be included in the evaluation process

County contracts
- Standardized contract forms and instituted a review process for all county contracts

Department of Motor Vehicles
- Relocation is planned to make it easier on consumers to use local DMV. If we increase use of the local DMV office, we will capture a greater local share
- Drop boxes for DMV registration have been and will be added

Compensation
- Established a standard work day for elected and appointed officials
- Increased the time of service needed to achieve retirement benefits

Passed 4 Local Laws to Expand the Pool of Potential Workers
Local Law No. 1 of the Year 2005: A Local Law Creating an Exception to the Residency Requirement for Deputy Sheriff Titles for Cortland County
Local Law No. 2 of the Year 2005: A Local Law Creating an Exception to the Residency Requirement for Correction Officer Titles for Cortland County
Local Law No 3 of the Year 2005: A Local Law Creating an Exception to the Residency Requirement for Assistant District Attorneys for Cortland County
Local Law No. 4 of the Year 2005: A Local Law Creating an Exception to the Residency Requirement for Assistant Public Defender for Cortland County