Carbon County considers new central administrative division and payroll separation, with pay requests and hiring authorizations ahead of August budget meeting

Speaker 4, an administrative official, told the Carbon County commissioners the county is proposing a new central administrative division (a 400-series org code) to separate finance, central administration and human resources from the commissioners’ object code. The proposal, Speaker 4 said, would consolidate central supplies, shared telephone and Internet costs, and IT maintenance while freeing HR to focus on full-cycle onboarding and employee management.

The change would include a payroll administrator position moved under finance rather than HR and the development of a formal hiring and onboarding matrix. ‘‘We are looking at separating payroll services out of HR,’’ Speaker 4 said, arguing the payroll work ‘‘more logically sits with finance’’ and that the change would allow the HR lead to concentrate on retention and full-cycle human-resources duties.

Speaker 7, an unidentified staff member who spoke extensively about recruitment and onboarding, described the county’s current hiring burden: roughly 12–16 hires per year, lengthy recruitment cycles (5–6 weeks for many openings), rising advertising costs, and preemployment checks that range from about $225 to as much as $500 in some cases. Speaker 7 said those costs and administrative burdens make it difficult for HR to both process payroll and run comprehensive onboarding. ‘‘We estimated about $15,000 on turnover and preemployment advertising and background checks,’’ Speaker 7 said.

The administration also requested a pay adjustment for a staff member discussed in the meeting (referred to in the packet and discussion as Kate). Speaker 4 explained a proposed increase from 80% to 85% of the elected official base (with a longer-term goal of aligning department-head pay to 100%) and said the proposal is intended to avoid losing eligibility for the Healthy Montana Kids program and to reflect expanded responsibilities. Speaker 4 characterized the 109% figure mentioned earlier in the discussion as an effort to avoid reducing take-home pay for dependents covered by Healthy Montana Kids.

Commissioners asked for more detail and a formal job description. Speaker 4 said the county will present full job descriptions, hiring authorizations and budget numbers for the August 28 meeting where all wage-increase requests will be considered. ‘‘If you’re generally agreeable to the concept, we will develop a full job description and propose a full hiring authorization,’’ Speaker 4 said.

The discussion also covered succession planning, leadership training for department heads, and the creation of definitive checklists and timelines for each step of hiring and onboarding so candidates move from recruitment to the department more quickly. Speaker 4 and Speaker 7 said they would present a responsibility matrix and suggested adopting it as a policy to ensure department-head participation and consistent handoffs.

On safety and compliance, Speakers 7 and 4 said the county’s safety manual is outdated and that reasonable-suspicion training is currently limited to a few staff members. They recommended updating the drug-testing policy and arranging for more local testing capacity to avoid costly travel for employees and candidates.

The board did not take a final vote on the reorganization or the specific pay increase at this meeting. Commissioners signaled general support for the concept but requested the detailed job descriptions, budget implications and timeline be returned for formal action at the August 28 meeting. The administration will prepare the hiring authorization and cost details for that session.