Elections director requests $2,000 salary increase for director post and transfer to cover assistant director separation

Lake County’s elections director asked the commissioners to approve a $2,000 increase to the director’s salary and to authorize related transfers to cover accrued leave and to support onboarding of a new assistant director.

The presenter said state statute allows a $2,000 difference between the director and assistant director positions and that the previous assistant director had both national and state certification. The current request would restore the director’s pay and accommodate differences arising from staffing changes. The elections director said the assistant director position had been filling in and that the new assistant director was on a path to obtain certifications.

Commissioners asked whether the assistant director’s position is exempt or hourly and discussed the practice of salaried employees recording time cards to track comp time during election activities. One commissioner said they preferred balancing the change within departmental budgets (for example by a $1,000 bump combined with a $1,000 reduction elsewhere) so that the net budget effect would be zero; another commissioner supported restoring the full $2,000 because of prior expectations set at hiring.

Staff said the $2,000 would come from overtime savings this year and that transfers to cover both salary and leave would total about $7,000. The transcript does not show a formal recorded vote on the salary change in the excerpt provided.