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Pennington County launches HR review; commissioners weighing centralized vs. generalist models
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Summary
Following the HR director’s retirement, a county review found fragmented HR functions split between county and sheriff’s office staff and presented three paths: keep status quo, consolidate under one director, or adopt a flat HR generalist model; commissioners asked for more time and expect recommendations at the next meeting.
Pennington County commissioners received an organizational review on April 20 that documented a fragmented human‑resources system split between county HR staff and HR functions maintained inside the Sheriff’s Office. The report presented three options for the board to consider: keep the current federated arrangement with incremental fixes; consolidate HR functions under a single director; or move to a flat generalist model in which cross‑trained generalists share portfolios of responsibility.
The review, prepared by the commission office with input from department heads and a site visit to a neighboring county, found several recurring problems: inconsistent interpretation and application of policies across departments, concentration of institutional HR knowledge in a small number of employees, and duplicate or manual processes caused by multiple timekeeping and HR systems.
Commission Office Director Jordan summarized the choice for commissioners: “Is it more important to focus on centralization or departmental autonomy? ... It’s not that one is right and one is wrong,” and asked commissioners to consider whether to pursue organizational change or maintain the status quo while addressing operational gaps.
Why the choice matters: Commissioners said the county needs reliable and consistent HR processes to support recruiting, benefits administration, leave and FMLA management, and discipline. Different departments reach HR for services at different frequencies; larger operations (public safety) interact daily with HR, while smaller offices do so only occasionally. The review notes a history of incremental evolution that produced today’s mixed model and offered cost and coverage comparisons with similar counties.
Options on the table: - Status quo with targeted fixes: minimal organizational change but ongoing inconsistency risk. - Consolidation under one HR director: improves uniformity and oversight but would require role clarity and a planned transition. - Generalist model (flat structure): cross‑trained HR generalists assigned as primary liaisons to departments; highest consistency but greatest change management burden and potential impact on career pathing within HR.
Next steps: Commissioners asked staff to refine recommendations and said they expect to make a direction decision at an upcoming meeting. Several commissioners expressed openness to a centralized director role but emphasized the need to define the director’s scope before interviewing candidates for the post.
What the report includes: the assessment drew on staff and leadership surveys, a timeline of prior HR structural decisions, a five‑year budget review and comparisons with similarly sized counties. Staff will circulate the raw survey data to commissioners on request and continue stakeholder outreach before the next public decision point.
