Clinton County Council approves job-title changes for EMS and prosecutor; declines immediate EMS pay bump

Clinton County Council voted 5-0 at its June meeting to accept the Job Classification and Compensation Committee’s recommendations to reclassify two county positions and to defer an immediate pay increase for the EMS deputy position pending inclusion in the 2026 budget process.

The council approved reclassifying the county’s paramedics program director position into a new deputy director title for the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) department but did not approve the department’s proposed salary increase for the reclassified post. The council also approved consolidating certain positions in the prosecutor’s office into a total of four paralegal positions and recommended revised minimum qualifications be included in the 2026 budget cycle.

The committee presented its findings at the meeting, noting that the EMS reclassification would eliminate the program director title and move the incumbent into a newly created deputy-director role. The department had proposed setting the new deputy salary at 80% of the EMS director’s pay. The Job Classification and Compensation Committee recommended approval of the new job title and responsibilities but recommended against approving the proposed salary increase outside the normal budget process. A committee member said the current employee’s salary is $80,636 and that the proposed salary of about $87,580 would be an additional $6,944, an increase the committee did not support outside of the 2026 budget review. The committee also said an internal evaluation (PAT points, as evaluated by WISP) would support a higher factor level but that a county-wide pay policy on deputies had not been established and should be considered during the 2026 budget process.

On the prosecutor’s office request, the committee recommended approving the reclassification to consolidate the paralegal/technical-writer and administrative-assistant lines into four paralegal positions, including two currently existing paralegals. The committee recommended updating the minimum qualifications so that an associate degree in a related field or five years of law-office experience would meet the requirement; paralegal certification would be preferred but not required. The committee recommended these changes for inclusion in the 2026 budget and said they were expected to have minimal fiscal impact.

Council members asked that the rationale and committee logic be memorialized in meeting records and that any county pay policy for deputy or assistant directors be cleaned up as part of budget planning. The council voted 5-0 to approve the committee’s EMS recommendation (title and responsibilities approved; salary increase deferred) and 5-0 to approve the prosecutor’s office staffing recommendations for inclusion in the 2026 budget.

Next steps: the council directed that consideration of any county-wide policy on deputy/assistant compensation be taken up in the 2026 budget planning process and suggested a prior work session to clarify pay policy for exempt employees and deputy positions.