By VICKI URBANIK

With overtime costs skyrocketing, the Porter County Council plans to revert to the past practice of giving county employees paid time off if they work more than their standard 35-hour work week.

And, in another major policy decision, the council is considering approval of $120,000 to form a new human resources department that would deal with employee matters. The council tabled this issue until next week.

At Wednesday’s hearings on the 2009 county budgets, the council began to rescind the county’s ban on compensatory time by eliminating overtime for the county auditor and animal shelter, axing a total of $30,180 from their proposed budgets.

Overtime in other budgets is expected to be zeroed out as well for 2009, according to Council President Robert Poparad, D-1st.

The move stems from a policy decision jointly made by the council and the commissioners in February, after some departments racked up so much comp time that the county owed employees 13,000 of paid time off. The accumulated comp time was described as out of control, blocking some departments from getting their work done.

As a result, the county banned comp time, directing departments to pay overtime instead.

But since then, overtime costs have soared beyond expectations. Practically every month, the council has been presented with requests for more overtime funding for various departments.

“Overtime is killing us,” Poparad said.

Poparad said what’s needed now is for the council and the commissioners to enact a new policy that allows comp time, but with an enforced deadline for the employees to use their days off rather than allowing the hours to accumulate. He suggested requiring employees to use their days off within two pay periods.

Council attorney David Hollenbeck noted that the county will need to abide by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act when detailing the new policy.

This year’s budgets – reviewed last year at this time, well before the county eliminated comp time -- included $76,750 in the general fund for overtime. By contrast, the budgets submitted for 2009 include a total of $133,430 for overtime from the general fund. Nearly $130,000 more in overtime is proposed from other funds, including $75,000 for overtime at the jail.

Human Resources

Reviving his earlier proposal, Council member Jim Burge, R-at large, on Wednesday once again called for creating a human relations department in county government. He proposed setting aside $120,000 for a human resources director and secretary.

Burge said the vast majority of problems facing county government involve human resources, with chronic complaints about unfair pay levels among departments and out-of-date job descriptions. With more than 600 employees, he said county government is like a corporation and should function as one.

“It just screams out for a human resources department,” he said.

Burge presented a job description for the new director, with tasks that would involve job descriptions, hiring and firing policies, timeclock and drug testing management, payroll, employee training programs, employee recruitment, and benefit program management. The new HR director could also serve as an ombudsman for county employees, he said.

The proposal won the support of council members Karen Conover, R-at large, and Michael Bucko, D-4th.

“I think it’s long overdue,” said Conover, noting that the county used to have a part-time HR consultant prior to the budget cuts prompted by the Bethlehem Steel bankruptcy.

But other council members weren’t as enthusiastic.

Council member Dan Whitten, D-at large, said he supports smaller, not bigger, government. He also said he feels the new director would be given too much authority, with the potential for politicizing employment matters. He also said it’s the role of the county council to prioritize budget needs with the available funding.

Poparad said he personally isn’t opposed to the concept, but suggested waiting until after the council gets through more budget hearings to see if the funds would be available. He also said there might be funding sources other than the general fund.

Posted 8/14/2008