Personnel committee approves two election clerks, two machine technicians and grant acceptance for election supplies

The Allegany County Personnel Committee approved requests from Election Commissioners Brett Reynolds and Mike McCormick to add staffing and to accept grant funding tied to election operations.

Reynolds and McCormick asked the committee to approve two election clerk positions — one from each major party — and two part-time level-1 machine technicians used primarily at election time. The commissioners said the technician positions are used only for elections and estimated a cost of about "$925 each a year." Commissioner Rick moved to approve the two election clerk positions; Hanchett seconded the motion and the committee approved it by voice vote. A separate motion to approve the two part-time machine technician positions also passed.

Commissioners also asked the committee to prepare a resolution so the full board can accept and sign a grant agreement. Staff referenced "Resolution 3 89 24," saying the county had previously "accepted and appropriated the grant funds" and now needs a separate agreement signed. The grant was described as covering items such as new poll books and restocking office items. The committee voted to request a resolution for the board to accept the grant agreement and to authorize the chairman to sign; a motion to move that resolution was made and seconded and the committee approved it by voice vote.

Committee staff said the budget includes a contingency fund — described in the meeting as about $500,000 — from which transfers will be made to pay for positions that were omitted from departmental lines when the budget was written. Staff said a budget transfer will be processed to fund the election positions.

Votes on the election staffing, technician positions and the grant-resolution request were all approved at the meeting; specific dollar amounts for the grant and the timing of any hires were not specified on the record.