Warren County personnel committee approves staffing and policy changes; commenter urges separate nepotism policy

The Warren County personnel committee approved several staffing and salary adjustments and adopted two county policies, and a staff member urged the committee to remove a nepotism provision from the county's newly updated code of ethics and have the risk and safety committee draft a standalone nepotism policy.

The committee's chair called the meeting to order and approved the March 5 minutes before moving through the action agenda. Motions were handled by voice vote; the chair called for ayes and recorded no opposition on the motions that passed.

A staff member who identified concerns with the recently updated code of ethics told the committee the rewrite aligned definitions with New York General Municipal Law, Article 18, but that the preexisting nepotism provision (Section 17) did not fit the new definitions. "I would suggest that as we move forward ... that the committee consider removing the nepotism section out of the code of ethics and direct the risk and safety committee to go through a process of creating a really best-practice governmental policy," the staff member said. The staff member also noted that elected officers ' the sheriff, district attorney, county clerk and county treasurer ' have different status from other department heads, which affects how nepotism rules apply.

The staff member and a meeting participant agreed the matter could be routed through support services and then to personnel for formal consideration at a future meeting.

Votes at a glance: the committee approved a referral from Economic Growth & Development to create a senior planner position (annual salary $62,900) and delete the principal planner position (annual salary $84,093); approved two sports services personnel changes (create principal legal recording clerk, base salary $67,589; and increase the property and casualty risk manager salary from $77,840 to $89,077, prorated for 30 hours/week), which requires a $6,500 budget transfer and an additional $15,000 from contingency to restore structure; adopted the Warren County First Amendment order protocol policy and a Warren County family and medical leave policy to ensure compliance with New York state law; and approved a contract amendment with Ascentis (formerly Novatime Technology) to allow up to two Novatime SQL database exports at $1,000 per export. Each motion was presented and carried on a voice vote with no recorded opposition.

On litigation and reserves, the staff member delivered the monthly report and said the county's insurance reserve report shows $25,000 in each reserve fund for the sheriff, Department of Public Works, Community Services (CSS) and public health. The staff member reported three previously open claims have been dismissed or settled, including the estate of Anne Alice Hennessy v. County of Warren, which the staff member said was dismissed by the federal district court; two additional matters were noted as settled or dismissed and will be removed from the monthly report. A newly reported slip-and-fall claim is under investigation.

The chair returned the meeting to privilege of the floor and invited any final public comments. The staff member's request to remove the nepotism section was acknowledged and routed for follow-up; the committee did not take immediate action to change the code during this meeting.

What comes next: the nepotism provision removal and any resulting countywide nepotism policy were discussed as likely to be considered by support services and then presented to the personnel committee. Litigation items that were dismissed or settled will be removed from the monthly report, and the contract and staffing changes will be implemented per the county's administrative procedures.