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EIP report leads to recommendations

Everyone received recommendations in the Early Intervention Program report.

Mark Morgan, the director of the consulting firm that crafted the report, highlighted several of the “significant” recommendations for each of the departments.

He said that there are “specifically department recommendations” as well as “county-wide broad recommendations.”

These are some of the department-specific recommendations that the firm raised during Monday’s work session. The report contains many more recommendations, overall.

“A lot of the departments had software needs,” Morgan said, indicating that there appear to have been some deferred maintenance in past years “with some capital funding infused into the 2018 budget. Deferred maintenance causes a lag on when you spend money… Usually, you have to overspend in the future to catch up. That in and of itself is an issue you’re going to face going forward.”

Adult Probation

In Warren County, adult and juvenile probation are separate departments. “Most counties are looking to combine adult and juvenile probation into a single department with one head,” Morgan said. “Given the size of the county, that may be a viable option.”

Elections

Cross-training in the department was recommended as well as capital budget planning for the eventual acquisition of new election machines.

Fiscal

Morgan said there were “some fiscal personnel changes in the county. In terms of where we were, the financial records were not in ideal condition.” He said a personnel change is a good time to entertain a fiscal system change.

Human Services

Morgan said that both human service and juvenile probation expressed software needs to “communicate better together.”

Planning and Zoning

“The biggest thing is the comprehensive plan,” Morgan said, indicating it was last updated in 2005 and that updates are required every 10 years. he said there was some updating done in 2015-2016.

Sheriff

Morgan raised three issues – the cost to the county for night patrols, “the amount of out of state transfers being done” as well as the “use of full-time sheriff personnel for building security” which he said is “not typically in most counties… The sheriff’s budget is almost 50 percent higher than most sixth class counties.”

Tax Claim

“Since the Chief Assessor is retiring, the county may want to look at combining the Tax Claim office and the Assessment, possible to reduce staff and cost,” the report states and officials discussed briefly on Monday. “The county may also want to consider combining tax claim into the Treasurer’s office which several counties have done.”

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