Council adopts job-description and salary ordinances; personnel committee to decide CASA funding

The Marshall County Council voted to adopt Ordinance 20 25-18, which establishes updated job descriptions, and to adopt changes to the county salary ordinance (Ordinance 20 25-45) at the July meeting. The motions carried after standard votes.

Members of the personnel (job classification and compensation) subcommittee reported they met June 24 and discussed several classification items including a public-health administrator classification (PAT 4) and a planning commission administrative assistant classification (nonexempt). The committee also met with Judge Cerisi about CASA funding and noted the county has a statutory obligation to fund CASA.

The personnel committee said it is evaluating whether the CASA director and program should remain a 501(c)(3) with its own board or be folded into county government so the program director can focus on volunteer training and casework rather than fundraising. The committee reported an estimated county cost of about $70,000 annually if the county assumes the program’s operations; it said the county must decide whether to take CASA on as a department or leave it as a nonprofit that the county subsidizes. “We need to schedule another meeting and really make some firm decisions at this point,” the vice president of the personnel committee said.

At the meeting the council approved the two ordinances as presented. Ordinance 20 25-18 establishing job descriptions passed on a motion by Mr. Masterson, second by Mr. Patterson; the salary-ordinance amendment (20 25-45) likewise passed on a motion by Mrs. Johnson and seconded by Mrs. Cox.

The personnel committee will continue work on CASA’s status and on ordinance language that will appear in upcoming agenda packets. If the county assumes CASA as a department, the committee said it will present a formal fiscal impact and implementation plan before any budgetary changes are made.