OCEA/Assessor Department LMC
OCEA Labor Relations Representative Aaron Peardon
Report for Meeting of January 9, 2008
The Orange County Assessor’s Department Labor Management Committee meeting was held on January 9, 2008. This is the second meeting in which OCEA participated. The meeting was attended by several employees, including OCEA members Bonnie Forsythe and Jerry Nava. OCEA Labor Relations Representative Aaron Peardon introduced the Department to their new OCEA representative, OCEA Senior Labor Relations Representative Loretta van der Pol. Loretta is returning to OCEA following a year off for medical reasons.
Over the past two years, OCEA and the Assessor’s Department have worked diligently on establishing a strong working relationship between management and employees. With the help of members of management such as Shaw Lin, Steve Harness, and County Assessor Webster Guillory, we have formulated a relationship that mutually benefits both sides. We continue to work on resolving employee issues at the earliest possible point, and strive to improve the lives of Assessor Department employees. Loretta brings many years of experience into this endeavor and will continue this important process.
Items discussed during the meeting included the security of Department computer systems, earthquake safety, and cell-phone usage. The Department is attempting to implement a computer system that will simplify the security protocol for the computer technology systems. On the issue of earthquakes, Bonnie Forsythe suggested the idea of providing earthquake safety kits to every employee. The idea is that these kits could be kept under an employee’s desk and would help survival in the event of a catastrophic earthquake. The Department is going to investigate the possibility of providing these kits and will follow-up during the next meeting. Lastly, Bill Price asked Webster Guillory to define the Department’s policy on cell-phone usage. Webster stated that employees need to use their own judgment and common sense. The use of cell phones in occasional personal emergencies is acceptable. The simple point is, do not be on the phone throughout the day, or sending and receiving text messages when you are supposed to be working. We all will have issues that we sometimes need to address, and as long as the use of cell phones is not abused, it should not be a problem.
OCEA is happy to be a part of the Assessor Department LMC, and we look forward to continuing to work with the Department in resolving workplace issues through this process.
OCEA/Health Care Agency LMC
OCEA Senior Labor Relations Representative Loretta van der Pol
Report for Meeting of June 11, 2008
Regular Business
The minutes from the May 2008 meeting were approved.
New Business
The committee agreed to move its regular meeting date to the second Tuesday of every month.
Sponsor Updates
OCEA’s sponsor discussed the current status of the Orange County Register request for employee salary information. There was also discussion about the upcoming County negotiations and the surveys that will go out to County members in the late winter or early spring of 2009.
Subcommittee Reports
Workplace Enhancement:
• The parking project contracts for the 17th Street parking are still under review.
• The request for the file transfer issue is being submitted to IT.
• The “No Smoking” policy is close to being implemented. It will be submitted to management soon. (At the writing of this report, the policy had been circulated.)
Communications/Project Development:
• Seventeen applications have been received for the Team Excellence Awards. After careful screening, the winner will be selected through a vote of the committee.
Recruitment:
The new chairperson was announced and provided a status update on the membership on the committee. (This subcommittee works to maintain balanced representation of program areas.)
The next meeting will be held on July 9, 2008, due to the holiday. The new schedule will begin in August.
Report for Meeting of May 14, 2008
Subcommittee Reports
Workplace Enhancement:
• The issue of the storage of County records has been resolved.
• A project request for IT will be submitted for an FTP server.
• Contracts are being reviewed for the completion of the work still needed to improve the safety of the parking lot at the 17th Street facility.
Communications/Project Development:
• Seventeen applications have been received for the Team Excellence Awards. They will be screened and the finalists will be brought to the committee for review and a vote in the June meeting.
• The results of the HCA 2007 Employee Survey were reviewed and provided to the Workplace Enhancement subcommittee for the identification of possible workplace issues.
Report for Meeting of April 9, 2008
The OCEA sponsor provided a report on the first meeting of the revived Best Practices Committee, and named the newest member.
HCA Human Resources provided the following new information and updates:
• Behavioral Health Services staff in the Fullerton Clinic were reassigned as part of the downsizing of that facility (which was originally scheduled for closure due to budget problems);
• The County’s “Supervisor Camp” is being scheduled again and information can be found on the Human Resources website;
• The Psychiatrists, Pharmacists, and Psychologists classifications are still being considered for the addition of layers;
• HCA is currently working with Programs to identify and address the needs of the Dual Diagnosis/AMHS clinic recruitment; and
• A wellness center has been approved for MHSA, along with staffing. Implementation has not yet been scheduled, and the possible development of a timeline will be referred to the Best Practices subcommittee.
Subcommittee Reports
Workplace Enhancement:
• CCS is continuing to have problems with the second layer of approval being required to process tuition reimbursement requests;
• Additional examples about issues with FTP servers have been received and will be forward
to HCA IT;
• Work is in progress on the parking problems at the 17th Street clinic, based on the traffic survey that was conducted by the County at the Agency’s request; and
• A part was replaced in the 17th Street clinic’s air conditioning equipment in an attempt to better control the temperature (which had gone down to 50°). The situation is being monitored.
Communications/Project Development: The Team Excellence Awards project is in full swing, as scheduled, with publicity provided by both HCA and OCEA.
Report for Meeting of March 12, 2008
Two guests from the area in Human Resources responsible for the processing of Educational and Professional Reimbursements, as well as those for mileage, gave a good presentation on the program. They walked the members through the steps, and explained how and where delays can occur.
There were concerns raised about identity theft and the need to put Social Security numbers on the forms, which are usually ponied to Human Resources for processing, then ponied again to the Auditor-Controller’s office for the issuance of checks. The Auditor-Controller’s office is trying to address this problem by looking at ways to switch to a process or programming that will allow the use of employee numbers, instead. At present, Social Security numbers are needed because the reimbursements need to be loaded into the W-2 program.
There was discussion about the unknown impact of the state’s budget.
Subcommittee Reports:
Communications/Project Development: The application process for the Team Excellence Awards are ready for publicizing. The HCA Executive Management group will discuss the project for approval at its next meeting, and it will be on the LMC agenda in May. The applications will be made available in June, which will keep it on track for presentation at HCA’s Employee Appreciation event in August. Articles and contact information will be placed in both the Agency’s “What’s Up” newsletter and OCEA’s newspaper.
Recruitment: The subcommittee is still functioning without a chairperson. The LMC Co-Leaders encouraged the members to think about volunteering before the next meeting. If there is no volunteer at that time, one will be appointed.
Representation is adequate in terms of having every area represented, but the large areas may be under-represented. A request will go out for candidates from CMS and Disease Control.
Workplace Enhancement: County Records are in the process of being scanned and the problem of storage should be diminishing very soon.
On the issue of parking on 17th Street, RDMD performed a traffic study and will be taking the following actions: speed bumps will be installed, “Stop” lines will be added in several lanes, a pedestrian walkway will be striped in the primary lane, and signage, including directional signs, will be repainted.
On the issue of file transfers, three examples of the business need for certain types of emails and files to have the size restrictions lifted were received. Another attempt to collect examples will be made before going to the Executive Committee for presentation to IT.
Report for Meeting of February 13, 2008
Questions were asked about Leadership Development Training, training in general, and the timeliness of reimbursements. The Human Resources representative on the LMC gave some information on the training team, and on where the most current reimbursement forms can be located, but asked to be able to provide more detailed information in the next meeting.
The committee voted to accept a new member, Gregory Fuller, who works at one of the Drug and Alcohol Clinics.
In the January meeting, there had been discussion about changing the larger committee’s meeting frequency to every other month, while keeping the subcommittees on a monthly schedule. It was determined that the status quo was working and should be maintained.
Subcommittee Reports:
Communications/Project Development: The Team Excellence Awards project is beginning for the current year. There was discussion about the process that’s been used in the past and how the HCA Executive Committee sets the deadline for the announcement in the “What’s Up” newsletter.
Recruitment: The subcommittee is still functioning without a chairperson. The LMC Co-Leaders will work with the members to try to resolve the issue.
Representation appears to be equitable except in Animal Care Services, so an e-mail was sent to the division manager requesting some candidates.
There was also discussion about the target number of LMC representatives being 30 to 35, while the core group is around 15. (The issue of non-attendance may need to be addressed by the Co-Leaders.)
Workplace Enhancement: Progress is being made on the storage of County records.
The issue of parking on 17th Street is progressing also, with RDMD scheduled to conduct a traffic survey.
On the issue of file transfers, examples of the business need for certain types of emails and files to have the size restrictions lifted will be taken to the Executive Committee for presentation to IT.
The issue of AMHS caseloads was closed and moved to the Best Practices committee.
Report for Meeting of January 9, 2008
The Workplace Enhancement, Communications/Project Development, Recruitment, and Best Practices subcommittees all met prior to the full meeting. Those meetings were very productive.
The Team Leaders reported that the work put into the Christmas Luncheon meeting was discussed and considered very successful.
The HCA co-sponsor David Thiessen provided an update on the unknown state of the impact of the Governor’s budget announcement on County operations.
The new OCEA co-sponsor, Loretta van der Pol, introduced OCEA’s Jason Motsick as the other new OCEA co-sponsor.
HCA’s Human Resources team member, Karen Hodel, discussed the status of the upcoming graduation of 30+ participants in the HCA Leadership Training. She also provided a description of a newer, more user-friendly “Learning Management System” that tracks the County courses taken by employees.
Subcommittee Reports:
Workplace Enhancement: The FTP server issue has still not been resolved and is still being researched. Conflicting responses have been provided by the County Data Center as to whether or not it’s feasible or allowable to have this link to the State, primarily for the purpose of uploading large files directly to it, rather than continue to send hardcopies by Federal Express.
The caseload issue submitted by an employee in Adult Behavioral Health appears to have been resolved and the employee is satisfied. This LMC issue was closed.
A new issue involving the parking lot at the 17th Street facility was submitted and research is to begin.
Communications/Project Development: The new subcommittee chair discussed being approached by a couple of new members about LMC handbooks; the location of guidelines for the Team Excellence Award; and archived information for past “What’s Up” and OCEA newsletter articles. These issues were addressed after brief discussion.
Recruitment: Public Health (and specifically the Public Health/Regulatory Health combination) is short one representative on the LMC, as is Correctional Medical Services. The subcommittee will work with management to try and identify potential candidates.
Best Practices: This subcommittee has had to revamp its work twice and is attempting to resume meeting.
New Business: There has been discussion in the recent past about reducing the LMC meeting frequency to every other month, with the subcommittees continuing to meet monthly. The issue was tabled until next month, after the subcommittees check on the viability of meeting on this basis, but with flexibility on the dates and times. Reports would be submitted to the LMC members after those meetings. There were also opinions expressed about the benefits of both monthly and bi-monthly meetings. The majority of the LMC members also participate in one of the four standing subcommittees.
OCEA/Probation Department LMC
OCEA Labor Relations Representative Frank Flavin
Report for Meeting of May 1, 2008
The Probation Department LMC met on May 1, 2008. We welcomed Director Don Beezly as the new Chair of the committee, with Supervising Probation Officer Jim Arkyns stepping down after serving a year and a half as the Chair. Jim will remain as an LMC member, and we thank him for his service as Chair.
Workplace issues:
• Payroll adjustment delays continue to be a problem for many of our members who work overtime. Frederico Perez from payroll indicated that he needs concrete examples in order to track the delays.
• Mileage reimbursements are not being processed as quickly as our members would like. Frederico stated that the claims are the responsibility of the Auditor-Controller. He distributed a document on how to obtain information from the Auditor-Controller Intranet webpage.
• Parking at MOB/Juvenile Hall has been an ongoing problem for some time now as there appears to be a shortage of spaces. Brian Wayt will check on this issue.
• Regarding security at the SAO parking lot, Sheriff’s Special Officers checked the parking lot and the only reported issue was a hit and run. Frank Flavin will check with the Sheriff’s Department regarding possible reports.
• Director Dave Burnham has asked the committee for guidelines for the Memorial Wall at Juvenile Hall.
OCEA/Public Defender LMC
OCEA Labor Relations Representative Aaron Peardon
Report for Meeting of February 28, 2008
The Orange County Public Defender’s LMC was held on February 28, 2008. Attendees included Diana Hantsche and Tom Havlena of Public Defender management as well as OCEA members Leticia Baez, Maribel Franquez, Sandra Hanson, and Charlene Marshall. Maribel Franquez is leading the ongoing project of collecting healthy recipes for the Public Defender’s online cookbook. OCEA Labor Relations Representative Aaron Peardon is continuing to work with OCEA member Nancy Jewell in contacting speakers from health organizations to speak with employees about health-related issues.
In discussing issues from last meeting, the Department is unable to provide Bluetooth or global positioning satellite technology to field investigators. The County policy for taking phone calls while driving is to pull over to a safe location and then proceed with the phone call. With current budget restraints, the Department cannot afford to purchase GPS systems at this time, but may revisit the issue in the future. Currently the Department provides other means for investigators to find locations while in the field. The Public Defender’s office is still discussing the possibility of a staff picnic in the summer and may also include an Angels game as part of the festivities. OCEA has offered to provide the OCEA Hot Dog Wagon for this event.
New business discussed included suggestions from employees. One such suggestion was to keep employees assigned to locations that are closest to their homes. Diana Hantsche explained that while this would be nice to do for employees, it does not follow with the goals of the Department. The Public Defender’s Office practice of rotating among locations is designed to give employees exposure to different courts and a broader knowledge of the overall process of the work that is done. Therefore, the practice of rotating will continue. The second request made was for the addition of an investigative assistant at the 901 building. Diana Hantsche is going to look into this request and report back to the committee at the next meeting. The final suggestion was to give investigators access to MySpace without having to go through their supervisors. The reason for this request is that it is a valuable tool in conducting investigations, as witnesses often have MySpace accounts and the investigator can conduct research including seeing pictures of what witnesses look like. Again, Diana will be looking into this issue and report back at the next meeting.
This LMC has been very proactive on every issue brought forward. Our next meeting will be in late June and I look forward to continuing to work with this group to continue to improve the workplace of Public Defender employees.
Report for Meeting of November 29, 2007
The Orange County Public Defender’s Labor Management Committee meeting was held on November 29, 2007. With the departure of Marisol Daniels from OCEA, Labor Relations Representative Aaron Peardon is once again the OCEA representative for the Public Defender after nearly a year away from the Department. The meeting was attended by over twelve employes of the Department. Topics of discussion included healthy recipes, healthy speakers, the staff Christmas party, and the possibility of a Public Defender picnic.
OCEA member Maribel Franquez has taken the lead in compiling healthy recipes from Public Defender employees and posting them on the Department’s intranet for everyone to share. Some of the recipes collected include roasted turkey, garlic mashed potatoes, pasta fagioli, and sour cream-apple muffins, all of which are healthy low-calorie choices. Continuing with the theme of healthy employees, the Department is discussing the idea of having speakers from health-related organizations and companies come to lunch meetings to discuss different topics of interest such as heart health and early detection of cancer. OCEA Labor Relations Representative Aaron Peardon is working with OCEA member Nancy Jewell to provide names of possible contacts.
OCEA was happy to donate ten movie tickets to the Public Defender Christmas party. We also look forward to participating in the Public Defender picnic if this event is held. The idea of a picnic is a popular one and will be discussed at the next LMC meeting.