Commissioners OK retire-rehire plan

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Despite some questions by some of his own employees, the Van Wert County Board of Commissioners approved a retire-rehire agreement with Jim Beard, director of the County Department of Job and Family Services Department, during a morning meeting on Tuesday.

The meeting, held at 8:30 in the morning to accommodate Commissioner Thad Lichtensteiger, who was leaving later in the day for a trip to the Czech Republic, ended in a 2-1 vote in favor of a plan proponents say will save the county nearly $60,000 over what Beard is currently making during the 21-month agreement. Beard currently makes an annual salary of $74,311.38.

Voting for the plan were Commissioners Gary Adams and Clair Dudgeon, while Lichtensteiger, who had earlier noted his opposition to the concept of retire-rehire in general, voted against the proposal.

According to figures provided by the commissioners, Beard would work 32 hours under the retire-rehire agreement, which is to run from April of this year through December 2012. Savings include $14,852.28 for the first year due to the 20-percent fewer hours Beard will be working, as well as a 14-percent savings on contributions to the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) – a total of $2,080.72.

The county would also save $431.01 on Worker’s Compensation contributions and $215.50 in Medicare contributions, for a total payroll savings in the first 12 months of $17,589, according to the commissioners’ figures.

Payroll savings in the last nine months of the plan are estimated at $13,192.13.

In addition, a net insurance savings of $13,750.70 has been estimated for the first 12 months of the agreement, with insurance savings of $12,375.63 in the final nine months of the pact. A savings of approximately $2,962.76 will be seen in vacation time for Beard, according to figures released Tuesday by the commissioners, for a total savings of approximately $59,870.72 and an average monthly savings of $2,850.99.

The agreement was approved, although the commissioners did note that it’s still not certain just what economic impact Ohio Governor John Kasich’s new biennial budget will have on the county.

“Funding from the state will dictate more what’s going to happen,” Adams noted.

Dudgeon also noted that the agreement would be contingent on what might happen with the state budget, noting that part of the accord would include Beard’s recruitment, hiring and training of his replacement during the 21-month period.

“Remember, Mr. Beard serves at the pleasure of the commissioners,” Dudgeon said. “If for any reason things don’t work out, it (the agreement) can always be revisited.”

Several people, including a number of VWCDJFS employees, attended the meeting, with one employee wondering why the agreement was approved so quickly – just a week following a public hearing held on Beard’s retire-rehire request. Beard did attend the public hearing, but was not at Tuesday’s meeting.

At his public hearing, the commissioners noted there were no details of the retire-rehire proposal, but those figures were available by Tuesday’s meeting of the commissioners.

At least one of those attending said it had appeared during last week’s public hearing that a decision on Beard’s retire-rehire request would not take place for at least 30 days, with comments made about waiting for Lichtensteiger to return from Europe before making a decision on the subject.

Dudgeon said that was not the commissioners’ intent, but noted he would check the taped record of the meeting to see whether that was inferred during the discussion.

There were also calls at Tuesday’s meeting for a county policy on the subject of retire-rehire to avoid possible discrimination on future requests within county departments. Adams said the commissioners would be seeking legal advice on the subject of a retire-rehire policy.

Meanwhile, Dudgeon said Beard would be meeting with representatives of Allen, Paulding and Putnam counties to discuss possible cost-savings measures that could be taken as part of a collaborative effort between the counties. Some discussion has already occurred at this point, but those discussions are preliminary at this point, it was noted.