New Castle County receives HR audit citing outdated merit code, job descriptions and tech gaps

New Castle County officials on June 17 heard the results of an independent audit of the county's human resources functions that identified bottlenecks in hiring and recommended policy and technology changes to reduce compliance and operational risk.

The audit, conducted by Blackwell HR Solutions and presented by Chief Human Resources Officer Dr. Dusty Blakey and Blackwell CEO Michelle Ray, concluded that the county's merit code and personnel policies were often decades old, that hundreds of job descriptions had not been updated, and that legacy systems such as PeopleSoft and NeoGov were slowing recruiting and onboarding.

Blackwell said the merit code, which governs hiring steps such as notices, required testing and appeals, creates delays because some provisions require waiting until a position is vacated before posting it and require written mailed notices with a 15-day appeal period. "There's a lot of unnecessary bottlenecks that need to be changed in the code," Michelle Ray said during the presentation. Dr. Blakey told the committee the county has experienced "missteps along the way" and slow staffing that prompted the audit after Blakey's arrival in February.

The consultants quantified the scope: of roughly 400 county job descriptions, 114 were more than 20 years old and 260 were more than 10 years old, and the audit noted examples such as references to obsolete media in an IT job description. Blackwell also reported nearly 6,000 applicants last year and said the merit code's mailing and documentation requirements consume substantial staff time.

Recommendations presented include updating federal- and local-facing employment policies to ensure compliance (Blackwell cited ADA and HIPAA as examples of policies needing updates), modernizing workforce practices to remove unnecessary candidate constraints, prioritizing a large-scale job-description update, and investing in HR technology and staffing. Ray said some recommendations could be implemented before a full technology replacement, but that a modern HR platform would improve efficiency and could change staffing needs.

Council members asked technical and practical questions. Councilman Carter asked whether the audit provided a row-by-row inventory of deficient policies and job classifications; Ray said a roughly 40-page report was delivered with specifics and that a team member had become "very, very proficient" in the county's code. Council members also raised sequencing concerns: whether some policy work should wait until the county completes a planned move away from Oracle/PeopleSoft. Ray said many changes can be implemented independent of a full system migration, though technology will affect final workflows.

A public commenter, Rob Bullock, asked whether the study considered artificial intelligence in recruitment and whether apprenticeship or student pipeline programs were addressed. Ray said AI can be useful for screening but cautioned against using AI to replace core HR roles, and Dr. Blakey said the county is pursuing internships and pipelines with local schools and colleges and hopes to have initiatives in place by fall.

The presentation did not include any formal committee vote on adopting the recommendations. Blackwell and county HR said they would assist with prioritization and next steps.

Why it matters: The audit identifies structural and legal-process constraints that the county says are slowing hires and adding workload. Councilmembers signaled interest in pursuing changes but raised sequencing, staffing and compliance questions that officials say will guide implementation.