County committee briefs on HR and finance staffing study; modeling due in December

Richland County Administrator Clint Langrick told the Finance and Personnel Committee he intends to deliver a staffing study in December that models options for centralizing human resources and finance functions and evaluates potential budget reductions required by a prior resolution.

Langrick said the study will compare Richland County to other counties by examining expenditures and employee counts, use a job-duty analysis to allocate time to functions, and present four core models: the current model, an HR-focused centralization, a finance-focused centralization, and a combined HR-and-finance centralization. A fifth modifier would show a return to an administrative coordinator model to meet reduction targets.

"The things that stood out... were talking points of we're not moving forward," Langrick said, summarizing prior committee feedback and stressing the need for side-by-side models. He said the county will survey comparable counties (initial outreach to Lafayette, Vernon, Grant, Monroe) and prepare internal job-duty capacity analyses with department heads.

Committee members asked for a running total showing cumulative savings as different options are selected so supervisors can see how close proposals come to the resolution's reduction targets. Supervisor Carroll asked that the study include an ongoing running total and suggested the committee will want to use the results to measure progress toward the mandated cuts.

Langrick said he expects to present the modeling to the committee in December and asked members to flag any options they view as irrelevant. Committee members noted the study's scope will require time from department heads and flagged potential capacity and timing impacts on administrator performance reviews.

No formal action was taken; staff will continue the comparison research and finalize modeling for the December report.