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Voyles said hiring a county manager or
administrator would bring several benefits. A manager could keep
closer track of the yearly schedule, standardize personnel
practices, establish a safety program and control losses.
An administrator would also make the
job of the county board chair easier, Voyles suggested. Board
members, including the chair, have other employment or businesses to
run and can devote only a small part of their time to county
affairs. A full-time manager would have more time to follow through
on board decisions, establish new programs and maintain schedules.
"The way we’re doing business isn’t the
most efficient for the taxpayers," contended Voyles. He believes
employing an administrator would be a more professional way to
operate the county.
Voyles said a manager could have
averted the need for the special board meeting on July 12. That
meeting was called to renew the county’s liability insurance, which
would otherwise have lapsed before the voting session on July 16.
Several causes led to the insurance
mix-up, according to Voyles. Some were out of the board’s control,
such as St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company’s delay in
quoting rates. However, one problem was that the Insurance Committee
thought the expiration date was July 17, giving time for a vote at
the regular meeting. Voyles believes a full-time county
administrator could have caught the problem before the committee
did.
One component of the 45 percent rise in
liability premium was $4,200 in additional coverage for personnel
and hiring practices. Voyles said the county risks being sued
because it does not have uniform hiring procedures. Establishing and
overseeing such procedures would be part of a county manager’s job
description.
At present, the county has employment
guidelines developed by the Personnel Committee, consisting of board
chair Dick Logan, finance chair Rod White and Voyles as insurance
and legislative chair. The committee meets four times a year to
review and revise the guidelines, which apply to personnel not under
union contract. However, Voyles said the process "needs to be done
at a professional level" to be sure all state and federal standards
are met.
One likely component of a uniform
personnel policy is a standard pay scale. There is currently no
salary schedule for non-union county workers. Instead, salaries of
employees are set by the officeholders to whom they report and
therefore vary for comparable positions, White said.
Another need is for a standard
application form, still leaving the ultimate authority for hiring to
the officeholder. Voyles said such an application form would include
a pre-application physical, which the county does not currently
require.
The concept of a county administrator
has been under discussion for at least seven months. In January
White collected job descriptions, qualifications and salary
information for administrators in DeWitt, Morgan and Livingston
counties.
The job description of the DeWitt
administrative assistant to the county board is similar to that of
Logan County Board secretary Joanne Marlin, with some added duties
related to purchasing and zoning. Marlin performs a number of
administrative tasks, including scheduling committees and
administering insurance.
In Morgan County the job title
administrative assistant applies to a position responsible for
budget control, grant writing, county planning, economic development
and administration of social service grants in three counties. The
Morgan administrator oversees a staff of seven to 12 people.
[to top of second column in this
article]
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The situation in Livingston County is
far closer to that envisioned by local proponents of a county
manager. There the county coordinator’s responsibilities include
human resources, risk management and insurance, budgeting and
financial reporting, grant applications and administration,
purchasing, organizational planning, intergovernmental relations,
economic development, and overseeing building projects. Minimum
qualifications for the job include a bachelor’s degree in public
administration or similar field and relevant experience; a master’s
degree is preferred. The current coordinator has served for about
two years and earns $50,323. He has one administrative assistant.
Part of a manager’s salary could be
recovered in savings, Voyles and White suggested. For example, the
county would be able to drop $4,200 in liability insurance covering
personnel and hiring practices. Centralized purchasing could save
money on office supplies. Consulting fees might also be saved. And a
county manager could institute procedures to reduce insurance claims
that cause losses.
According to Voyles, a recent worker’s
compensation loss control report recommended that the county appoint
a safety committee. Some county departments such as the highway
department already perform periodic safety reviews. A county
administrator could extend to all county offices safety practices
such as facilities inspections, maintenance and perhaps accident
investigations.
Although duties of the proposed
administrator would have to be worked out in committee, both White
and Voyles see further potential savings by consolidating other
positions.
White said "it is the best of times, it
is the worst of times" for making the decision to hire a county
administrator. It is best because some changes will occur anyway. In
the past, auditors from Sikisch Gardner & Co. have done closing and
adjusting entries as part of the annual county audit. According to
Logan County Treasurer Mary Bruns, Governmental Accounting Standards
Board 34, which redefines generally accepted accounting principles
for governments, does not allow accounting firms to do any
managerial work for clients. Therefore, closing and adjusting
entries will now be done by Bruns’ office.
Another coming change is that six
current county board members will leave office in December,
including White and Roger Bock from the Finance Committee and Law
Enforcement/ESDA chair Doug Dutz. The resulting climate of change
would present a convenient time to institute a change in county
governance.
However, it is also the worst of times
due to budgetary pressures, White added. Because of revenue
shortfalls, especially in sales taxes, the county may finish this
year with a deficit larger than the budgeted $315,000. The deciding
factor will be whether officials and committees continue to hold
expenditures below budget, as they have done in the first seven
months of the fiscal year.
With budget
hearings for fiscal year 2002-3 beginning Aug. 16, officials are
being asked to keep their requests within current figures. Setting
up a new office would entail expenses beyond the salary of the
administrator, White noted, and it would be difficult to vote for
additional expenses when budgets are being held steady or cut.
[Lynn
Shearer Spellman]
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"Low- to
middle-income populations have historically been left out of the
credit market," said Angela Lyons, U of I consumer economist. "Now,
as students, they have access to credit, but have not been provided
information to help them manage their debt."
Students who are at
risk for significant credit card debt tend to be those who have the
most difficult time paying their way through school. They are often
financially independent and borrow more money in general than most
students. This group is more likely to have student loans and to be
involved in work-study programs.
"How students obtain
their credit cards is also a factor in whether they manage them
well," said Lyons. "Students who get their card in the mail, at a
retail store or at a campus table are more likely to be financially
at risk than those who received them from financial institutions."
Lyons, through the U
of I Office of Student Financial Aid, used an online survey to
measure student credit card usage. From 835 surveys, Lyons found
that about 79 percent of U of I students have credit cards, which is
similar to other colleges and universities. And she discovered that
for the most part, students are using their credit cards
responsibly.
 [to top of second column in this
article]
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Financially at-risk
students reported at least one of the following credit problems:
having credit card balances of $1,000 or more; paying off credit
card balances some of the time or never; maxing out credit cards;
and being delinquent on credit card payments by two months or more.
The percentage of students who described themselves as fitting into
one or more of these categories ranged from 7 to 30 percent.
Lyons is involved in
a four-year U of I Extension project called "$tudent $marts" to help
financially at-risk students in Illinois build their financial
knowledge about credit, make informed financial decisions, use
financial services responsibly and develop a sense of financial
independence. The goal is to develop pamphlets and Web-based
materials.
"The students in the survey reported
overwhelmingly that they prefer to receive information on the
Internet rather than through other forms of communication," said
Lyon. "We are creating materials that will be available for use
statewide. The information will be available in a variety of formats
so that it can be used in ways that best suit students at a number
of colleges and universities."
[U
of I news release]
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