Penobscot County commissioners on Oct. 1 approved updated performance‑evaluation forms for hourly employees and department heads, adopted a revised county accounting policy and approved a language‑access policy intended to satisfy grant requirements. The county deferred final approval of a wellness policy pending input from the county’s risk pool.

Brenda (HR director) presented the evaluation forms and asked the commission to formally adopt them for implementation on Jan. 1; commissioners approved the forms unanimously. The accounting policy was presented as a living document that will be updated when the county deploys an electronic purchase‑order system and a new HRIS for time sheets and payroll.

Commissioners also voted to authorize the county administrator and administrator’s designees to sign a contract with the selected human‑resources information system (HRIS) vendor, with the vendor’s agreement to defer billing until Jan. 1 to align with the county’s fiscal year. The county documented that signing the contract is intended to allow the HRIS vendor to begin implementation work so the county can digitize payroll and personnel processes in the coming months.

The commission kept the wellness policy on hold and requested additional review by the county’s risk management (insurance) representative before final adoption.

Why this matters: The new HRIS and revised policies aim to modernize payroll, timekeeping and internal controls across county departments. County staff said the change should reduce manual processes and free staff time, though commissioners noted new software costs should be reflected in final budget deliberations.

Commissioners asked staff to return with a clearer accounting of one‑time implementation costs and how broker fee savings from the county’s health insurance procurement will be applied to the county budget. No change to benefit offerings was approved at the meeting; paid family leave cost‑sharing was discussed as part of the broader budgeting conversation.

The motions to adopt the evaluations, accounting and language access policies and to approve contract signing for the HRIS carried with the recorded ayes of commissioners present.