Budget review committee hears HR update; staff recommend technology, succession and policy changes

Elaine Mosher Campoli, chair of the Budget Review Committee, opened the meeting by circulating a state comptroller report and then invited the committee to hear from Human Resources staff about operations, staffing and technology needs.

The HR presenter, Jamie (staff member), told the committee the department has made progress on response times for employee and retiree benefits complaints after hiring an HR specialist, Michelle Howard, in late September. Jamie said an electronic enrollment feed (described as “EEI Communications”) that would push employee insurance changes directly to the carrier Excellus should reduce multistep manual processing and speed benefit enrollments. “Once we get a employee change or a new employee insurance change, insurance enrollment into the system, it just automatically goes to Excellus and the processing starts,” Jamie said.

Jamie also reported the flexible spending account (FSA) program has been underused since the city’s recent plan changes. The presenter described FSA as “a very low cost program” but said it requires administrative time and that participation has fallen since co-pays were reduced. Jamie said the department is promoting telemedicine and mail‑order prescriptions as other ways to reduce overall health costs.

Nut graf: The discussion centered on three interlocking issues that staff say drive inefficiency and compliance risk: an aging / problem-prone HR/payroll vendor system (UKG), a planned migration to Tyler Technologies for integrated finance/payroll/asset management, and internal succession and cross‑training to reduce single‑person bottlenecks. Committee members pressed for specifics about timing, costs and capacity while HR staff described steps already underway to reduce risk.

Jamie told the committee the city needs to update policies and staffing to reflect changing state civil service practices. The presenter said two staff members will attend the New York State Civil Service Institute next week and that state changes in testing and candidate selection are likely over the next two to three years. Jamie said the office is working to “have our house in order” so records and procedures are ready when state processes change.

On drug- and alcohol-testing administration, Jamie said the program manager currently combines ordering and day‑to‑day testing duties and that some functions should be separated for checks and balances. Jamie said non‑DOT drug and alcohol policies need revision and that staff has begun research to update those rules.

The committee heard that the department cannot remain on the current UKG platform given repeated problems. Jamie said manual workarounds and reporting by hand are common: “We cannot stay with UKG,” Jamie said, explaining that some reports require manual effort because the system does not calculate required service-time statistics correctly.

To reduce single-person dependencies, Jamie described a planned two-year succession path for a recently hired HR specialist and immediate cross‑training for a new hire, Linda, who starts on Monday and will be trained in payroll duties. Jamie said the aim is to have at least two people able to run payroll and maintain continuity during major transitions.

Committee members asked follow-up questions about whether ending FSA administration, adjusting testing fees, or other changes could be implemented midyear if participation or no‑show rates change. Jamie responded these options could be reviewed over a two- to three‑year period and adjusted if metrics (for example, no‑show rates at testing) deteriorate.

Ending: The committee thanked HR staff for the presentation and agreed to submit follow-up questions in writing. The meeting agenda schedules additional department presentations in coming months; HR staff said they will provide the committee with supporting documents and a list of proposed policy updates and training plans.