Remember to sign up in the ASO for the annual Employee ...
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Employee Newsletter December 2012 Remember to sign up in the ASO for the annual Employee Recognition/ Holiday Party!!! 2012 Holiday Decorating Contest! Enter for the chance to win a prize! Decorate your entire office, your personal cubicle, or anything in between – it’s up to you and your coworkers. Basic Decorating Rules: Decorations should not be religious in nature, nor able to be perceived as offensive by others. No window decorations or electric lights. Decorations can be store bought or home made; themed or eclectic; funny or serious. To enter, provide your name, department, and description of decorated area to Crystal in the ASO by Dec. 19th: [email protected] Judging will be held on Friday, December 21st. 1
Transcript of Remember to sign up in the ASO for the annual Employee ...
Employee Newsletter December 2012
Remember to sign up in the ASO for the annual Employee Recognition/
Holiday Party!!!
2012 Holiday Decorating Contest!
Enter for the chance to win a prize! Decorate your entire office, your personal cubicle, or anything in between – it’s up to you and your coworkers. Basic Decorating Rules: Decorations should not be religious in nature, nor able to be perceived as offensive by others. No window decorations or electric lights. Decorations can be store bought or home made; themed or eclectic; funny or serious. To enter, provide your name, department, and description of decorated area to Crystal in the ASO by Dec. 19th: [email protected]
Judging will be held on Friday, December 21st.
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Commissioner’s Appreciation Brunch
All employees are invited to attend an appreciation brunch following the Board Meeting on December 18th (expected to end at approx. 10:30 am) in the lower level break room of the Historic Courthouse. Please join us in thanking our Commissioners for their years of dedicated service to Mille Lacs County.
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NEW FLEET VEHICLES HAVE BEEN ORDERED! Two 2013 Ford Focuses and one 2013 Ford Fusion have been ordered to join the County fleet. The vehicles are expected to arrive in early spring and will have REMOTE START!!!
EMPLOYEE DEPARTURES Sheriff’s Office Jeremy Gothman, Correctional Officer, resigned 11/20/12 after 13 years of service. Char Wallace, Correctional Officer, is retiring on 12/20/12 after 18 years of service. Sandi Campbell, Confidential Secretary/Records Tech, is retiring on 12/28/12 after 12 years of service.
Blandin Broadband Community
Mille Lacs County was recently named a Blandin Broadband Community. This is a two-year partnership in which we will receive planning and organizing support, and the opportunity to apply for grant funding for lo-cally developed projects that address community identified needs. Chosen communities may apply for up to $100,000 in matching funding over a two-year period, with the average amount of grant support anticipated to be $75,000 per community. Community highlights:
We must commit to recruiting and supporting an inclusive community leadership team that reflects com-munity composition.
Several County residents and schools are currently represented, as well as elected officials and business partners.
Community leadership team members must be able and willing to commit time and attention to community planning and project development and management.
We will initially need to define our technology goals, measure current levels of broadband access and use, and connect with other technical assistance resources to meet our goals.
The first meeting of the leadership team will be December 20th.
This is one of many programs administered by the Blandin Foundation, which is a private foundation based in Grand Rapids, MN. Founded by Charles K. Blandin in 1941, it is the state’s largest rural-based and rural-focused foundation. As of Dec. 31, 2010, the foundation leveraged the proceeds from a trust worth more than $395 million. Click here to be directed to the Blandin Foundation’s website. Note: The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe was also named one of nine Blandin Broadband Communities.
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2013 MILLE LACS COUNTY EMPLOYEE RECOGNITION/HOLIDAY PARTY
Friday, January 11th
ONAMIA VETERANS CLUB 38692 US HWY 169, ONAMIA MN
Located on the corner of Highways 169 & 27
Roast Beef and Crispy Baked Chicken, Baby Red or Twice Baked Potatoes, Green Beans, Coleslaw, Italian Pasta, Fresh Fruit, Veggies and Dip, Rolls, Coffee, Punch, Assorted Cheesecake, Cookies, Bars
(Catered by Buzzie’s on the Bay)
5p.m.‐SocialHour;6p.m.‐Dinner;7p.m.‐RecognitionProgram
Reservations will be accepted in the ASO through Wednesday, January 2nd No cost to employees being recognized; all other employees* - $10 (refunded at party), $15 for guests*
*Cash payment is required with reservation. Sponsored by the Labor Management Committee
Compensatory Time Maximums
Our payroll system will soon be set up to acknowledge the compensatory time maximums that employees are allowed to accrue (either per a CBA or the personnel policy). Accordingly, if you have a comp time balance that exceeds your maximum allowed, it will be paid out as overtime on your paycheck. After this payroll option is configured, if you attempt to enter comp time earned on your timesheet that exceeds your allowed maximum, you will receive an error message and the time will instead need to be entered as overtime.
NEW EMPLOYEE WELCOME!NEW EMPLOYEE WELCOME!NEW EMPLOYEE WELCOME!
Community & Veterans Services Debbie Thompson, Office Support Specialist
NEW UNION GROUPS
Two groups of Sheriff’s Office employees have recently unionized: Clerical employees in the Sheriff’s Office now have Teamsters as their exclusive representative, and are the second unit of Teamsters in the County work-force; Supervisors in the Sheriff’s Office now have Min-nesota Public Employees Association as their exclusive representative. Union related actions such as this can be found on the Bureau of Mediation Services website.
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Comprehensive Plan Update
Steering Committee: Currently going into their second review of the objectives and goals of the first five task forces: Public Safety, Environment & Energy, Economic Development, Transportation, and Recreation & Tourism. The next meeting is scheduled for Dec. 6th.
Agriculture & Forestry Task Force: Developing the first draft of objectives and goals based on the community survey and SWOT analysis feedback received at previous community meetings. Next meeting is Dec. 18th at 6:00 p.m.
Land Use Task Force: Developing the first draft of objectives and goals based on the community survey and SWOT analysis feedback received at previous community meetings. Next meeting is Dec. 18th at 7:00 p.m.
Resident Community Meetings: The next round of Community Meetings has been scheduled for Jan 10, 12, & 14. Please attend and encourage others to attend, as all input is critical to this process. Further infor-mation about the Community Meetings is available on the website.
KUDO’S to… Technology Services (Casey, Parker, and Mike) for working thru a catastrophic failure of three serv-
ers, and getting us back up and running. Good job! Joe Ahner and Brad Dexheimer for all their hard work on the recent County auctions. The Community & Veterans Services Mental Health team (Children and Adults) for passing their
recent audit with flying colors...nice work all! Facility Operations and the STS Crew for decorating the Historic Courthouse rotunda.
LEAN in Mille Lacs County LEAN: This philosophy of aggressive continuous improvement is executed through defining value from the customer’s perspective, mapping the value streams, creating flow, working at the pull of the customer, and pursuit of perfection.
Kaizen: A combination of two Japanese words: kai meaning “to change” and zen meaning “for the good of all.”
Kaizen Event: A structured, team-based, problem-solving activity of short duration used to im-prove processes throughout an organization. Activities typically include: 1) team training, 2) cur-rent state analysis, 3) future state design, 4) prioritization of improvements, 5) training on new pro-cess and implementing the selected improvements.
Recent Kaizen Event: Fleet Vehicle Usage Process – Nov. 29 & 30
Results: The team developed a new reservation process that Technical Services will work to develop, train staff on, and implement that will reduce task time by 34%.
In addition, the team made suggestions regarding the types of vehicles we order, shelter for the cars, snow issues in the winter, and cleaning of the vehicles. A full plan will be developed in the next few weeks and will be posted at that time.
Next Kaizen Event: Permit Process – Dec. 3-6
Scope: Permit Process in Land Services from the time the applicant makes first contact with the office until the permit is file in LSO, after inspections are completed. This will include 911 Ad-dressing, Land Use Permits, Building Permits, Septic Permits, and any combination thereof.
Goals: Streamline number and format of applications; make it easier for public to complete ap-plication process; determine need for information collected; and improve efficiency of the pro-cess.
Report Out: Thursday, December 6 at @ 2:00 PM in Conf Room D (All staff are invited to attend!)
Would you like to share your thoughts regarding opportunities for project or process improvements in the County? Follow this link to submit them anonymously.
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Survey Results Show What Citizens Want from Local Government A survey from accounting software firm Casselle indicates the top five practical services and features that residents want from local governments:
1. Prompt responses to service requests. 2. Easily navigated city and county websites. 3. The ability to pay online. 4. Online calendars of local events. 5. Text alerts.
From the Government Finance Officers Association of the United State and Canada
