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Board approves several personnel changes, including position eliminations and restructuring to save $173,000
Summary
The county approved elimination or restructuring of several positions: a public health educator ($82,000 projected 2026 savings), a child‑support officer ($31,000 savings), and auditor/treasurer/HHS account technician restructuring (~$60,000 savings), plus a proposed CST backfill to address child protection needs.
The Pine County Board approved multiple personnel committee recommendations intended to reduce costs and align staffing to service needs. The board acknowledged the resignation of public health educator Nicholas Olsen and approved eliminating that position effective Sept. 19, 2025; staff estimated this action would generate approximately $82,000 in 2026 savings. The board also approved eliminating one full‑time child support officer position by Dec. 31, 2025, with an estimated 2026 savings of about $31,000.
On child protection staffing, the board considered a request to waive the two‑month waiting period to backfill a child protection social worker vacancy and to fill it at a lower grade as a community support technician (CST) with a minimum starting wage of $24.66 per hour. Becky Fossing (Speaker 7) said moving to a CST and absorbing some contracted services in‑house could produce near‑term savings; "I did put the savings in the 2026 budget at over $20,000, about 10,000 for the position and then another 10,000 for other savings related to services," she said. The board also approved an updated account technician job description and restructuring that staff said would yield about $60,000 in savings in 2026. All motions were moved, seconded and carried by majority voice votes.
