HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-06-27 Commissioner Minutes TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017
The Franklin County Commissioners met Tuesday, June 27, 2017, with the
following members present: David S. Keller, Robert L. Thomas and Robert G.
Ziobrowski. Chairman Keller presided and after calling the meeting to order, a Moment
of Silence, and the Pledge of Allegiance, proceeded with the business of the day.
On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski; seconded by Robert L. Thomas;
unanimously approved to adopt the agenda.
Chairman Keller wanted to thank the STAR Committee for the Employee Mixer
event on Saturday night. He said it was the best event so far.
Kim Wertz provided public comment and asked if board action item #3,
agreement with Tuscarora School District could be a two or three year agreement and if
this is an increase from last year.
The minutes of the June 20, 2017 and June 22, 2017 meetings were reviewed.
These will be decided upon on Thursday, June 29, 2017.
The Board reviewed Agreements, Contracts and Reports. Carrie Gray, County
Administrator, explained the agreement with Tuscarora School District is approved every
year and we work through the schools as it depends on their school planning and budget
each year. The amount of the increase is 3% from last year. All the items will be
approved Thursday, June 29, 2017.
Tiffany Bloyer, Human Resources Director, and members of the Special Thanks
and Recognition Committee (STAR) were present to honor the employee of the month
for June. Joyce Gentry, Department Clerk II in the Clerk of Courts Office, was chosen
from 11 employees nominated. Ms. Bloyer said the selection for the June 2017
Employee of the Month was determined by the STAR Committee based on the
numerous votes Joyce received. Ms. Gentry was selected based in part on the following
comments on the nomination form: (She) recently volunteered to learn how to use the
new scanning system so she can help teach the entire department how to use it; Joyce
has such a caring heart and is always willing to help others in every situation; (She) is a
great team player and goes above and beyond to help our customers and co-workers
whenever there is need; (She) is always kind and courteous towards everyone; Joyce
deserves this more than anyone I know! Ms. Gentry's outstanding characteristics are
attributes that have not gone unnoticed by her peers. The nomination form described her
as patient, kind and understanding. We are grateful to Ms. Gentry as she exudes a high
standard of customer service, excellence and respect to the employee and residents of
Franklin County. Todd Rock, Clerk of Courts, said that Ms. Gentry is the lead person on
the scanning project that his office is undertaking where they are turning 30 years of
records into electronic version. She volunteered to teach other people in the office
which is just one of the many duties that she performs. Ms. Gentry thanked her
Supervisor Todd Rock and all the girls in her office because they all work together and
Todd was at the forefront to bring the office up to the 21St Century with the scanning
project. She said they will be at the forefront of all technology so they can have records
scanned and eventually people can come to the office to view records on line instead of
running to the basement to search for files. Ms. Gentry explained that this will make
their jobs so much easier and their hope is that attorneys will be able to view records
through a subscription service so they don't have to drive to Franklin County.
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Carrie Gray, County Administrator, and John Hart, Chief Clerk, and other
members of the Division Leader team were present to provide a presentation on the
County's Mission, Vision and Values. Ms. Gray explained that in recent leadership
workshops, the Division Leaders (DL's) wanted to build upon what they learned and help
employees to have more awareness of how the various departments co-mingle and
collaborate. They started with New Hire Orientation and continued with other initiatives
like Employee of the Month, Ben Bucks, and Supervisor trainings. It is imperative for
employees to understand Franklin County Values. John Hart, Chief Clerk, said the
mission statement was developed in 2000 and no changes were made to it. This
statement reflects the County's goal gain efficiencies and move forward with good
customer service, internal and external. He said county employees deal with people
every day so we need to provide good customer service. He wanted to complement the
DL's for getting together once a month for nine months and working with Bob Witmer
and learning leadership skills. Mr. Hart read the mission statement and stated every
employee needs to know the mission statement and practice its principles every day.
This type of approach is what we need to be successful in county government. Ms. Gray
said that everyone felt the mission statement was still right on target and did not need to
be changed. But they realized that there were some values that were missing. They
worked extensively on the vision and spent a lot of time discussing honoring our heritage
and that Franklin County is such a great place to live and work. They had a lot of
deliberation on the core values and talked to employees as to what they saw as
essential values. Ms. Gray explained SERVICE which stands for Stewardship,
Employees, Responsiveness, Visibility, Integrity, Continuous Improvement, and
Engagement and provided an explanation for each word and why it was chosen.
Tiffany Bloyer, Human Resources Director, provided more information on the
recognition piece which includes service awards, employee mixer, years of service
luncheons and HR forms. Bill Bechtold, Warden; Kurt Hoffeditz, CIO; and Phil Tarquino,
Planning Director, were tasked with coming up with a marketing campaign to roll out the
Mission, Visions and Values for the County. They provided the Board with posters that
will be posted in county buildings and offices, and brochures and pins that will be given
to county employees. There will also be a flash screen that will come up on everyone's
computers when they log on. The group picked the color blue because it stands out
more than the county's colors of green and brown. Warden Bechtold said that all these
items will be discussed at the DL meeting scheduled for tomorrow but they also would
like the Board's input. Commissioner Thomas said he is not married to the County's
colors and thinks that blue would stand out more. Commissioners Keller and Ziobrowski
agreed. Warden Bechtold said they did honor our heritage by using the original county
logo.
Chairman Keller said that a tremendous amount of work has gone into this. He
said this is strategic planning and is grueling. He said many of us are down the fox hole
the whole time and getting work done but many of us need to stick our heads out and
see how to progress and keep the county going, not only with heritage. This is an
extremely vital process and he is happy they are not changing the mission statement
since it took him 10 years to memorize it. He thinks this is ready for primetime and he
understands there was a process to have the elected officials buy into this. Ms. Gray
explained that a couple weeks ago they presented the mission, vision and values to the
elected officials and those who could not make it, they reached out to them. Everyone
was receptive of this program. She continued that if the Board approves, they will work
it into the different departments and have independent times to meet and roll it out to
employees. They will also work in the values and vision into recognizing employees and
the Board is welcome to join in these meetings. Mr. Hart said staff will ask the Board to
assist with the roll out of this initiative and visit various offices and operations with DL's.
He asked each DL's to put time on their calendar to get out and talk to people and do
walk abouts. He said Commissioner's staff have met with a number of new managers
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through the supervisor orientation process and everyone is enthused and impressed as
they become more familiar with county government through these meetings. These new
managers benefit by learning about different operations and knowing names of other
employees they can call. He said this would be a perfect opportunity to talk about
reinforcing values.
Commissioner Ziobrowski alluded to Mr. Hart's mentioned of walk abouts - visits
by management with employees at various departments. Commissioner Ziobrowski
asked that commissioners be invited to such events. Commissioner Ziobrowski noted
the values discussion was largely internal, and suggested division leaders share the
county's values with the public through speaking engagements at civic organizations. He
then thanked the division leaders for their hard work, noting that the commissioners
often get the credit for county accomplishments, but the work is done by dedicated
employees.
Commissioner Thomas explained the 4 levels of competence he learned during
his years of broadcasting and some of the training he had was along this line. He said
this is reviewing what we already embraced to help people get to the next level. He
asked how this is like FROG from years ago. Mr. Hart responded that this is similar. But
from the leadership training they identified projects and engaged staff in those projects.
This is a more holistic approach and we need to get the word out to everybody. The
mission statement was developed in the year 2000 and September/October in 2000 was
when FROG was pushed out the door. Mr. Hart said that 50% of employees are
conscious of what they do but the bottom tier is not motivated and are idle, that's where
we need to focus. Leaders are going to lead, people in the middle will follow the leaders
but the bottom tier are just idle so we need to focus on them and improve their skill level.
He said this doesn't mean they are not good employees giving 100% effort and loyalty
every day. We will try to improve from the top up and bottom up.
On a motion by Robert G. Ziobrowski; seconded by Robert L. Thomas;
unanimously approved to formally readopt the mission and adopt the vision and values
as presented to the Board this morning. Chairman Keller thanked everyone for their
hard work and to let the Board know what they can do to help move this forward.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:42 a.m. with a motion by Robert G.
Ziobrowski; seconded by Robert L. Thomas.
FRANKLIN COUNTY COMMISSIONERS