Wayne County receives Connect 43 progress report; approves staffing, legal and EEOC training agreements

Wayne County commissioners on a June meeting received and filed the June 2025 Connect 43 steering-committee monthly report and approved a bundle of seven consent-calendar items, including a three-year temporary staffing contract, two legal-services amendments related to pending federal litigation, an amendment on toxic-waste litigation representation, and two intergovernmental agreements with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for Title VII training.

The Connect 43 update came from Mike Jamieson, Connect 43 project director, who told commissioners the county has taken the next rollout steps on its enterprise software work. "We are now live with the health and safety module, which went live at the beginning of the month," Jamieson said. He said the learning module went live last month and that the talent module is in a second round of testing and targeted for an Oct. 1 go-live alongside the county's enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

Jamieson said ERP entered a fourth round of testing, called P4 testing, designed to remediate unfinished items from earlier rounds and to validate integrations and reports. "This is a 9 week process. We're in week 3," he said, and added the testing will continue through early July. He described parallel work preparing training: an initial train-the-trainer session for module owners and subject-matter experts, followed by broader end-user training beginning in August and expanding in October for mass users. For the enterprise data warehouse (ADW), Jamieson said the team has signoff to move into production but is finalizing an operations manual for Wayne County IT before the implementation team transitions off the project.

The commission then acted on agenda items 1 through 7. Commissioner Wilson moved to receive and file the Connect 43 report; Commissioner Killeen seconded and the motion carried. The commission took items 2 through 7 as a single consent vote, moved by Commissioner Wilson and seconded by Commissioner Killeen; the clerk recorded the motion as carried.

Highlights of consent items approved by the commission:

- Item 2: A three-year contract (with two two-year renewal options) with Ultimate Staffing Services, a division of Ross Staffing Companies LP, to provide temporary staffing for the clerk's office. Chief Deputy Clerk Dwayne Seals said the temporary staff will be used as the office hires permanent employees and that some temporary workers could be converted to county positions. Seals said the county has used Ultimate Staffing previously. Commissioners asked about the procurement process; Seals and the clerk said procurement ran the solicitation and that 34 bids were received in response to 352 solicitations.

- Items 3 and 4: Amendment No. 1 to two-year legal-services agreements—one with Dickinson Wright and one with Clark Hill PLC—amending exhibit language in the matter of Regina Parks v. County of Wayne and Sheriff Raphael Washington. Deputy corporation counsel said the federal case is in early discovery and that the funding amounts presented were estimates to cover discovery and motion practice.

- Item 5: Amendment No. 2 to a two-year legal-services agreement (firm listed in the agenda as Zausmere) to add funds and continue representation in a toxic-waste matter tied to transportation and a prior train derailment. Counsel in the room said an evidentiary hearing occurred in May and that a public hearing is scheduled for July 1 at noon; an order is in place until that hearing and, as of the meeting, no waste had been brought into Wayne County.

- Items 6 and 7: Two intergovernmental agreements with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to provide virtual Title VII discrimination and harassment training for Wayne County supervisors and managers. Cody Bivens, the county's EEO analyst, said sessions are scheduled for different department groups and that roughly 30 participants are expected in each session.

The meeting closed the public-comment period with no speakers.

Why it matters: The Connect 43 program coordinates the county's human capital management, ERP, budget (EPM) and data-warehouse work; the current testing and training timeline ties major go-lives to October and will affect county payroll, hiring and budget systems. The legal-service amendments relate to ongoing federal litigation and a pending toxic-waste hearing with potential county liability or regulatory consequences. The staffing contract and EEOC training affect county workforce capacity and compliance.

Looking ahead: Jamieson said training and P4 testing will continue through July and into August, with broader end-user training and mass rollouts targeted for October. The court-related matters include a July 1 hearing on toxic-waste issues; the county's legal spending increases approved on the consent calendar are intended to cover upcoming discovery and hearings.