is now, and it applies to all of them. This needs to be shifted into that mode so it's productive
and collaborative and not making arbitrary cuts that could harm services to citizens. She
doesn't know that they can say the Clerk is not doing additional work because they are not in
those operations every day. She does not want to do to others what the CFO did to the
County. She does not want to be noncollaborative with the Clerk. They have built a pattern
where the conversations are not conversations, and that has to stop. She does not want to do
this now or put it on the agenda as a singular item. She wants to continue to work on the
budget. The millage increase does not have to stand in perpetuity. The whole thing needs to
continue to be worked on, and this is one component. There needs to be more transparency
on the constitutional budgets, and they need to have more time on those alone. It doesn't
have to happen exclusively in the budgeting cycle. If they were a business, these meetings
would be happening right now. If that is what they are asking for, then they need to do that.
However, they will also have to acknowledge the work that gets put on the County Manager's
Office as a result of the work that has to happen is significant, and they have to allow staff to
have the time to do that.
Chairman Zembower stated he is not interested in starting the budget session now, and Vice
Chairman Herr clarified budget work, not budget sessions. The Chairman stated they have
been through plenty of work sessions, public hearings, and the constitutionals have come in
and spoke. He has no problem with any other constitutional budget. This line item is for work
that is done for the BCC, not the courts, which is simply recordkeeping for the Board, the
minutes, records, documents, and finance. If the will is to let this roll as the budgeted item
until next year's budget session, he is not good with that.
Commissioner Lockhart stated somewhere between starting now and waiting is where she
would like to be. They can use the time now to gather more information so they can better
refine their questions that they can pose again. The Commissioner read a portion of CFO
Patronis' letter to the Clerk's Office dated August 15, 2024, that said, "We recommend the
Clerk's Office establish a method for sampling employees' time and effort between
court-related and noncourt-related functions to ensure the allocations of expenditures reflect
an accurate appropriation of funds. The methodology should include a basis for concluding
whether the budgetary calculations are accurate. We also recommend the Clerk's Office
ensure that their payroll is allocated accurately according to employees' established
percentages." The Clerk's reply letter dated August 22, 2024, stated they would conduct a
time-and-effort study for all departments that perform court- and noncourt-related functions to
ensure payroll expenditures are accurately allocated. Commissioner Lockhart inquired if they
can find out if that has been done and if they can get a copy of that. Discussion ensued.
Chairman Zembower commented the other thing he has pointed out is incentive policy.
According to CFO Patronis, best practices indicate that pay should be outlined in an employee
handbook or other human resources policy guide. Having the policies documented is vital to
maintaining consistency within the Clerk's Office, training new employees, and controlling
risks. They have asked that question about incentives, bonuses, whatever the case might be.
They were advised by the County Attorney's Office they can't give bonuses to any of their
employees. And the AG's opinion is that supposedly they can't do that as well unless it's
outlined prior to being hired in the contractual hiring agreement or in county policy.
Vice Chairman Herr thinks a lot of these questions would be answered by the next thorough
audit. A follow-up to the original one from Mr. Patronis would be what was the outcome of
that and have you actually adopted the new procedures that were recommended. She
