Pine County board approves personnel changes; HHS and other departments to cut or restructure roles
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Summary
The county board accepted several Personnel Committee recommendations including elimination of a public‑health educator post and a child‑support officer position, and approved reclassifications and job‑description updates intended to lower costs in 2026.
Pine County commissioners approved several Personnel Committee recommendations that will reduce staff costs and restructure duties across departments. The board acknowledged a public‑health educator resignation and approved elimination of that position effective Sept. 19, 2025, with duties reassigned to other staff; county staff estimated the elimination will save about $82,000 in 2026. The board also approved elimination of one full‑time child‑support officer position by Dec. 31, 2025, citing declining caseloads and an estimated $31,000 2026 savings. County staff cautioned the savings reflect partial reimbursements and that direct budgetary savings may not equal the position's full salary. In Health & Human Services, the board acknowledged the resignation of an eligibility worker and agreed to consider backfilling at a later date. Separately, commissioners approved a plan to waive the two‑month waiting period to backfill a child‑protection position because of recruitment and training lead times; staff proposed reclassifying the backfill as a community support technician (grade 7) with a minimum starting wage of $24.66 per hour rather than a grade‑10 social worker, a change described as producing near‑term budget savings but narrowing the scope of practice for that role. "We do believe the benefit is greater than the loss," a child‑protection supervisor said when defending the change. The board also approved updates to an account technician job description to reflect revised reporting lines, removal of a merit‑system reference and restructuring one of three health and human services account technician positions to absorb vacant clerk duties and auditor responsibilities; staff estimated that restructuring could save roughly $60,000 in 2026. Human resources manager Jackie Kloivisto briefed the board on ending participation in the former state merit hiring process, saying local recruitment has improved since the county left that system. All personnel motions discussed at the Personnel Committee were moved, seconded and approved by voice vote at the meeting. Several commissioners urged careful attention to privacy and internal HR processes when considering individual personnel correspondence.
