The Portage County HR Committee on Jan. 2 was told the county has seen an uptick in hires starting at higher pay steps and with negotiated vacation, and that an ERP mentor has been hired to assist with an enterprise resource planning implementation.

"We did hire an ERP mentor, in our office," the Director said, reporting that the hire started Dec. 30 to ensure hours could be counted for state fiscal recovery funding. Committee members discussed whether the county's salary schedule or pay steps need revision to respond to recent recruiting pressures.

Committee members were briefed that, during the reported time frame, 10 employees began employment while some started at higher-than-minimum wage steps and several were offered negotiated wages that were declined. The Director said there were also instances when candidates sought wages the county judged inappropriate because they would exceed long‑tenured incumbents.

The HR budget included a $25,847 line for a limited-term ERP position that went unspent until the hire on Dec. 30, the Director said. On employee benefits, the committee was told retirements have not generated large sick‑leave conversion payouts this year; the Director estimated the general fund’s exposure for sick-leave conversions would likely be under $75,000, while noting three retirements in the Highway division resulted in separate charges to that enterprise fund of about $30,000 per person.

On unemployment, the Director noted the budgeted figure was $20,000 and current usage was about $8,000. On health insurance, expenses were reported as exceeding revenues by about $1,900,000 year to date, with stop‑loss reimbursements still expected. The committee was told the budget assumed up to $3,000,000 could be used from reserves; if current trends hold, the committee was told reserve use would be lower than budgeted.

Committee discussion included whether the county should reexamine the step schedule (the Director and members mentioned "step 4" as an example) to remain competitive in recruiting. The Director described ongoing training for the new ERP mentor and HR adviser and said the county had recruited two contractors earlier in the cycle. No formal direction to change the salary schedule was recorded in the meeting minutes.

The committee also reviewed routine items such as vendor invoices and a November consumer price index figure of 2.7% that the Director mentioned in context of budget planning. No formal motions were recorded on the recruitment or budget items during the session.

Less urgent details noted to staff records included additional pending year‑end budget charges and two outstanding medical claims expected to be posted to the health‑insurance account.