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Establishing an Attrition Program for Kane County Personnel
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WHEREAS, Kane County is currently using fund balance reserves to pay for expenditures out of some of its funds and in particular the General Fund - General Account; and
WHEREAS, personnel costs are one of the largest expenditures in the County; and
WHEREAS, it is not sustainable to use reserves to pay for non-capital expenditures such as personnel costs, and
WHEREAS, the Kane County Board desires to reduce the overall expenditures and related use of reserves for non-capital expenditures through reduction in personnel expenditures; and
WHEREAS, the salaries of existing employees must not increase to contribute to this effort; and
WHEREAS, an attrition program whereby vacancies created by resignations and retirements are not replaced will reduce the overall staff numbers and personnel expenditures; and
WHEREAS, vacant positions created through attrition should be evaluated for restructure, reassignment, or elimination to reduce overall personnel costs; and
WHEREAS, departments shall make every available effort to restructure for efficiency, reassign staff, or adjust programming to eliminate the need to rehire; and
WHEREAS, the County Board believes that it is fiscally responsible and in the best interest of the County to establish an evaluation process that must be completed before any personnel are hired; and
WHEREAS, positions must be evaluated considering funding source, essential or uncommon skill sets, needed certifications or credentials, potential for reallocation or reassignment of resources and duties for increased efficiency at the county level; and
WHEREAS, when the Department Head is unable to accommodate the vacancy within their department, the County Board desires to establish a panel to evaluate these factors and make the needed county level adjustments or recommend the position for rehire; and
WHEREAS, the Vice-Chair of the Board, the Executive Director of Finance, the Executive Director of Human Resources, and another ad hoc member of the Board to be appointed by the County Board Chair are best suited to make this evaluation; and
WHEREAS, to accelerate the attrition rate, it is prudent to offer employees willing to resign under a Voluntary Separation Incentive Plan incentives to resign their position; and
WHEREAS, Human Resources Department is best suited to develop and manage the terms of the Voluntarily Separation Incentive Plan within the guidelines provided by the Kane County Board; and
WHEREAS, the County Board wishes to provide its employees within departments under the jurisdiction of the Kane County Board with 4 weeks of allocated severance pay and 4 months of health insurance eligibility for the County HMO plan as an incentive to voluntarily resign; and
WHEREAS, the County Board wishes to provide employees voluntarily declining all or some of the months of available health insurance with an incentive of $350 per full month declined.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Kane County Board that the salaries of all existing Kane County employees are frozen at their current rate of pay and shall not be changed without prior approval of the Kane County Board; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED by the Kane County Board that a Voluntary Separation Incentive Plan developed and managed by the Human Resources Department; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED by the Kane County Board that employees participating in the Voluntary Separation Incentive Plan receive 4 weeks of severance pay and 4 months of health insurance eligibility for the County’s HMO plan; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED by the Kane County Board that employees participating in the Voluntary Separation Incentive Plan declining any portion of the 4 months of health insurance eligibility be paid a lump sum $350 for any complete months in which they decline the offered health insurance eligibility; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED by the Kane County Board that an Evaluation Panel is hereby created consisting of the Vice-Chair of the Board, the Executive Director of Finance, the Executive Director of Human Resources, and another ad hoc member of the Board to be appointed by the County Board Chair; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED by the Kane County Board that an attrition program is hereby put into place effective immediately requiring that no employee be hired by Kane County without an evaluation by the Evaluation Panel; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED by the Kane County Board that the Evaluation Panel must meet as needed to conduct an evaluation at the request of the Department Head not later than within one month of the date the request is made; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED by the Kane County Board that effective immediately, no employee be hired by Kane County without either the approval of a majority vote of the Evaluation Panel or approval by the full Kane County Board.
Passed by the Kane County Board on May 13, 2025.
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John A. Cunningham, MBA, JD, JD Corinne M. Pierog MA, MBA
Clerk, County Board Chairman, County Board
Kane County, Illinois Kane County, Illinois
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