The human resource committee meeting took place on Nov. 28 at 8:30 a.m. in the Memorial Hospital conference room.
    During the meeting a motion was passed to combine the recently vacated position of planning and zoning administrator with the land conservation administrator position.
    The committee passed a motion regarding a wage adjustment for the scheduler/purchasing agent at the Lafayette Manor. In 2011 the wage was $11 per hour, but since then, the employee filling the position has taken on several more duties. For example: the position started out just scheduling for CNAs but now does scheduling for all the nursing staff. The motion increased the wage by $3.50 per hour, bringing the annual total up to around $8,400.
A motion for another wage adjustment was passed as well; this motion stated that the wage of the accounting manager at the Memorial Hospital of Lafayette County would increase $1 per hour. The accounting manager at the hospital recently took over some accounts payable duties at the Lafayette Manor and therefore has extra work. The wage increase is contingent upon the position keeping the additional Lafayette Manor duties. As long as the hospital accounting manager is doing the additional manor work the wage increase will stay, but if a situation arises in which that position no longer takes care of that work, the increase in wages will cease.    
The committee also passed a motion to add 8-16 hours per week of RN time to the recovery room at Memorial Hospital of Lafayette County. The RN working in the recovery room would come from the existing staff; it would not be a new position.
An outpatient clinic CNA at the hospital will be retiring on Dec. 14 and a motion to refill that position with an LPN instead of another CNA was approved. Because of this change there will be an additional $8,702 being spent to fill that position, but it was brought up that someone with more clinical knowledge and background was needed for the job.
A motion was passed to hire one full time RN to work the vacation and paid time off of the current nursing staff at the Memorial Hospital of Lafayette County. There are currently approximately 2,032 hours of paid time off and vacation from current nursing staff, which is almost another full time position. The hospital would save money by hiring another RN because then, overtime would not need to be paid to current nurses who pick up the vacation and paid time off of their co-workers.
The committee also reviewed and discussed the employee handbook and made some minor changes. The committee hopes to finalize the handbook at the Dec. 10 meeting and then present it to the county board.