Lake County staff outline administration priorities: merit/COLA options, contract tracking and asset management

Lake County administration presented the Board of County Commissioners with a progress update on internal operational priorities, saying staff will focus this year on pay policy design, contract administration, records retention and asset management.

The presentation, delivered during the board's work session, explained that staff are weighing how to deliver merit increases versus a cost-of-living adjustment and would tie any merit pay to clearly articulated goals and objective assessments. "Merit is tied to your performance," a presenter said. "A COLA ... is a standard percentage across the board ... Keep you treading water." The presenter said the county currently performs semiannual performance reviews and is discussing how to link increases more tightly to measurable outcomes.

Why it matters: The administration argued these measures will improve accountability and help the county plan for multi-year budgets. Staff said clearer rules for pay increases, central contract tracking and an asset inventory will let the county avoid surprises and reduce wasted staff time.

Most important details - Contracts: Administration said it is moving to centrally track contracts in the Tyler accounting system so contract obligations (for example, partner payments to the county) are visible to finance at the time they are executed instead of remaining only in individual staff email inboxes. The presenter said staff are “uploading those contracts into Tyler and making sure that individuals who are responsible for billing understand that that's in the contract." - Signature delegation: Staff described a forthcoming policy to delegate contract-signing authority to the county manager up to specified thresholds so routine renewals would appear on consent agendas rather than requiring full board action every time. The board was told legal and budgetary reviews would continue to apply to those contracts. - Asset management: Departments are cataloguing capital assets costing $5,000 or more and with useful lives over one year to create an asset-management plan for longer-term maintenance planning. - Organizational structure: The presentation traced the earlier County Leadership Team (CLT) format and said the county has split the large director-level CLT into smaller thematic project groups (administration, health & human services, community planning), and recommended adding a deputy county manager to reduce the number of direct reports that previously reported to a single manager. - Records and public access: Staff said they will centralize records retention and digitize non-digital records to better support Colorado Open Records Act requests and to avoid losing critical documents (leases, conditional use permits) in filing systems.

Budget and personnel context Staff reiterated that any broad programmatic or pay decisions will be subject to fiscal constraints in the 2026 budget process. The administration said it is exploring alternatives in case the county cannot afford both a merit pool and a COLA; the goal is to select the option that gives the most value to the county. Staff also noted the county has been short a full-time finance director and that filling that role quickly would accelerate multi-year grant budgeting work.

What the board asked and next steps Commissioners asked for realistic expectations about which grant-funded positions can be sustained beyond grant terms and pressed staff for regular updates. Staff said they will propose written memos with all information necessary for commissioners to decide on agenda items, and that they plan a June round of policy reviews with board involvement.

Ending: The administration asked commissioners for feedback on the priorities and said the items discussed — pay design, contract and records management and asset planning — will form the backbone of the team's work for the rest of the year.