BC 2005 02 07 WORK SESSION - Laserfiche WebLink

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February 7, 2005 (Work Session) Page 80 Judge Hamby briefly reviewed the criteria for screening inmates to determine eligibility for pretrial house arrest. These standards included a bond under $10,000.00 and no felony charges, probation violations, failures to appear, assaults, etc. Captain Paul Hunt reported that the eligibility standards for house arrest were applied to the County's jail population on January 26. On that date, only two of the 220 inmates would have been eligible for house arrest based on those standards. Also, he stated that Reliant Monitoring Services, which provides the monitoring for the counties of Wake, New Hanover and pitt, had quoted a price of $225,388.00 per year for up to 50 inmates on house arrest. However I he said this does not include the cost of the County's officers to transport inmates to their homes or pick up any inmates who violate the conditions of their house arrest. There was discussion regarding the jail population and the process that is currently in place by court officials to address the overcrowding. Chairman Carpenter thanked the judges and the district attorney for their input. Office Space for the Guardian Ad Litam Program Barbara Strang with the Guardian Ad Litem Program, which has office space in the Courthouse, addressed the .Board concerning the need for additional office and training space. She stated the office space would need to be within walking distance to the Courthouse and provide a suitable location for children involved in the program. Mr. Day reported the shortage of office space is a problem for everyone at the Courthouse. He stated that he and Judge Hamby are looking at possible solutions to the space needs for the Guardian Ad Litem Program. There was brief discussion regarding several possible locations for office space along with space in the Courthouse that can be utilized for training purposes. Mr. Day stated he would continue to work on this problem and that no action was required by the Board at this time. 2005 Compensation Review Don Cummings, Human Resource Director, presented a copy of the 2005 Compensation Review prepared by springsted Incorporated to each Board member. He stated the last review was done in 2001 and implemented in January 2002, with the 2003 review and performance increases suspended as part of the FY 2004 Budget. Mr. Cummings reviewed the salary study and highlighted the following: (1) Salary data from 13 counties and two cities (Concord and Kannapolis) were used for salary comparison; (2) The County has 217 classifications and salary information was collected for 79 benchmarked positions; (3) 78 classification upgrades and 6 downgrades were recommended; (4) Based on recommendations, 268 of the County's 892 positions would be upgraded and 7 would be downgraded; (5) The Personnel Ordinance provides for the greater of an entry level or a 5 percent salary increase for a change to a higher grade; and (6) The 10 percent maximum annual increase would apply to individuals in some instances. Also, he reported the FY 2005 budget includes $250,000.00 for implementation of the compensation Review recommendations; however, the estimated cost is approximately $118,000.00 if the recommendations are implemented on February 21. Staff responded to a number of questions regarding the salary study, its cost and the retention and recruitment of employees. Mr. Cummings will provide information as to the number of employees who will be affected by the annual 10 percent cap on salary increases. The Board by consensus agreed for the 2005 Compensation Review to be placed on the February Agenda. Request for Additional Child Protective Services Staff Jim cook, Social Services Director, reported on the January death of a 22-month-old child who was receiving Child Protective Services. He reviewed the staffing level of the Child Protective Services program and requested the addition of three investigator positions and one program manager position. The estimated cost to fund these positions for the remainder of FY 05/06