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HR and procurement ask for staff to keep pace with county growth and grant workload
Summary
Human Resources requested additional compensation support and noted equity staff funding risk; procurement asked for two buyer positions to maintain service levels as grant and capital work grows; both departments said they are still assessing longer‑term needs tied to new retained‑revenue proposals.
Human Resources and Procurement briefed the Board on staffing pressures that will grow if the commissioners approve additional positions across the county.
HR: Chief Human Resources Officer Jennifer Whether said that FTE requests included in the day's presentations would translate to roughly one additional HR FTE to keep pace. She warned that job profiles have grown (from roughly 500 to over 800 over 10 years) and the department will request a compensation position for 2026 to manage job classification and pay equity work. The HR director also noted equity, diversity and inclusion staff funding is at risk and highlighted tuition reimbursement, training and service award budgets that scale with employee counts.
Procurement: Mary O'Neil, director of Grants and Procurement, asked for two buyer positions (buyer 1 and buyer 2) to maintain current service levels as grant activity expands. O'Neil said the county historically used a portion of grant awards for administration (similar to ARPA), and that many support departments will present admin staffing requests tied to increased grant and capital activity. Procurement said it will return with a consolidated admin staffing request and estimated overall admin needs at roughly $2.25 million across departments if many grant programs proceed.
Ending: Both directors said they will return with more detailed estimates if commissioners ask them to incorporate new retained‑revenue allocations or if the board directs a different mix of ongoing vs one‑time funding.
