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Commissioners raise staff-workload concerns over auditor-led contract review
Summary
Commissioners discussed an auditor-led review of county contracts after staff reported significant hours spent on the project; they asked for revised timelines and for the commissioner leading the review to coordinate scope with staff and the county auditor.
Commissioners discussed an auditor-related contract review project after staff reported substantial time demands. One county director told the board that a single staff member had spent about 30 hours on the review so far and other directors were concerned about duplicating oversight performed by the state auditor or other bodies.
A county official briefed commissioners and said, "I have 1 staff member who said he spent 30 hours on it already and that's just 1. I've had couple other directors very curious about, you know, why we're duplicating work that's already done by, either the state auditor or oversight bodies and those kind of things." The official asked commissioners to consider modifying timeline and structure to reduce staff burden if the commission directs that the review proceed.
Commissioners noted that a commissioner had been appointed to participate in the review and that the commissioner controls how much time to invest. One commissioner requested staff discuss scope with the county auditor and return with recommendations for a more tenable workload. Another commissioner said the selection was an opportunity for a new commissioner to learn county operations.
Decisions and directions: commissioners asked staff to meet with the county auditor to clarify scope and report back with options to reduce staff hours, including timeline adjustments. They discussed channeling commissioner-led review work through the assigned commissioner to prevent ad-hoc staff tasking. No formal policy change or new contract was approved at the meeting.
Context and limitations: the conversation reflected concerns about duplicating existing audits and the need to preserve regular departmental workloads; commissioners reiterated that staff time allocations must be approved by the commission and asked for clearer parameters before expanding the review.
