PAC separates deputy court administrator review; forwards negative recommendation pending more information

Monroe County’s Personnel Administration Committee voted to separate review of the deputy court administrator classification from a larger package of court job classifications and to forward the deputy position to the County Council with a negative recommendation pending additional information from classification staff.

Court leadership — including Court Administrator Lisa Abraham and Judge Ekoff — told PAC they had updated job classifications for the entire court department and that one role, the deputy court administrator, was not upgraded by the county’s classification vendor. Abraham argued that the deputy “supervises bailiffs and a broad set of functions” and that the position has accrued duties since the job description was written in 2007. She urged PAC to support a higher EXEA-level classification for the deputy post.

Committee members expressed frustration with the WIS evaluation process and the difficulty of knowing what factors WIS used. Members noted the deputy position supervises multiple staff and that most other court positions were upgraded in the WIS recommendation, which led PAC to question whether the deputy’s duties were fully considered. One member described a “rebuttable presumption” that relevant duties may not have been captured because some duties appeared in the court administrator's description but not repeated in the deputy description.

PAC first voted unanimously to separate the deputy court administrator from the rest of the package, then voted unanimously to forward the bulk of court classifications to Council with a positive recommendation while making a separate, negative recommendation for the deputy position pending additional information from LIS/WIS and council staff review. Staff said they would contact WIS for clarification and that the item could be scheduled for the County Council’s Feb. 11 agenda.