County officials say cutting two attorney positions from the Child Support Enforcement Agency roster will boost the agency’s cost-effectiveness, but union leaders disagree.

Thursday, April 27, 2000

County officials say cutting two attorney positions from the Child Support Enforcement Agency roster will boost the agency’s cost-effectiveness, but union leaders disagree.

Administrative assistant Craig Allen, administrator Stewart Kaiser – both CSEA case attorneys – and two part-time computer clerks will no longer have jobs effective May 1.

"We’ve been reorganizing and trying to make the office more efficient for some time," said Buddy Martin, county Department of Human Services director.

Martin was appointed by the commissioners last year to oversee CSEA operations.

"Compared to a similar-sized county, the office appeared to be overstaffed considering the amount of work, and we decided to abolish the positions," Martin said.

But the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3319C, which represents Allen and Kaiser, does not call that a satisfactory explanation, bargaining unit president Mark Malone said.

"If it’s dollars and cents, it’s cheaper to have two part-time than one full-time," Malone said.

CSEA executive director Susan Brown, also an attorney, is full-time and not a member of the bargaining unit.

The county never communicated the need for only one attorney in the office full-time, nor did commissioners ask to bargain for anything different, Malone said.

"Performance issues would follow the disciplinary policy and that never happened," he said.

"Something has to be motivating it and it doesn’t appear to be the money."

Commission president Bruce Trent said the decision was business-related, agreeing with Martin that the county agency must operate efficiently.

The commission began streamlining the CSEA two years ago when it cited the need to restructure the agency and realign job duties to boost client satisfaction and make better use of monetary resources.

Commissioners authorized the recent job cuts March 23. The attorneys received notification letters dated April 13.

Commissioner George Patterson was absent from the March meeting, but said he would have voted no on the personnel action.

"I hoped that it wouldn’t be political," he said, referring to the job cuts.

The notification letter stated the positions were abolished due to the merger of the CSEA with the Department of Human Services. It also listed the employees’ retention points and notified them that they had retention rights for one year.

The county had been hinting at the move for some time, but the employees were not sure if it would happen, Allen said.

Copies of the letters were turned over to the union, which will deal with the issue, he said.

The two clerks were hired as temporary workers for the CSEA’s switch to a new computer system last year, Martin said.

Present and future restructuring at the agency meant reductions in workload for other staff, Martin said, explaining the county’s personnel action.

The computer system switch also showed the agency was handling about 3,500 child support cases, several thousand less than previously thought, he said.

"We have to operate as efficiently as we can and still meet the needs that are there to fulfill," he said.

Malone contends there were never any complaints to the union about the attorneys’ duties.

"They must be going to shut down all the action in the courts because they were the only two people contracted to do that," he said.

When commissioners restructured the CSEA two years ago, the union permitted the hiring of an executive director because that position did not impact any work of a bargaining unit member, Malone added.

If Allen’s and Kaiser’s work is taken over by a non-bargaining unit member, the union will file a unfair labor practice charge with the State Employee Relations Board, he said.

Martin said the executive director would be expected to cover the administrator and administrative assistant duties, including any legal duties.

Once restructuring is complete, the CSEA will have an accounting system that can pass an audit and the public’s attitude toward the agency will continue to change in a positive way as has already been seen, he said.

"There’s no question that as time goes, the amount of money available (from the state and other sources) to the county to administer the CSEA programs will go down," Martin said.

"We have to be more efficient," he said. "We’re trying to streamline; it’s not political."

Malone said the union will go ahead and write grievances and make the county aware of the issue, but will wait to see the commission’s course of action before filing unfair labor practice charges.