Progress seemingly made on Hill County Health Department wages

The Hill County Commission met with employees of the Hill County Health Department to once again discuss the issue of wages, but unlike other recent meetings on the subject, this one appeared to make some progress toward a possible resolution of the issue.

Members of the Hill County Health Department have been requesting a raise in wages for a long time, arguing that while they believe county employees in general are long-overdue for an increase in compensation, their department’s educational and training requirements make the issue especially important for them.

Department employees have argued that the wages for comparable positions in counties around the state are much higher and the wages Hill County is offering isn’t just making recruitment difficult, but driving existing employees away.

Hill County’s then-WIC Coordinator Nicole Hungerford resigned from the department last month, citing wages and a lack of support and respect from the commission during and after the pandemic as her primary reasons for leaving.

Hungerford’s criticism of the commission prompted responses from its members, with Commissioner Sheri Williams requesting patience while the commission deals with the issue, and Commissioner Mark Peterson saying that there is no room in the county’s budget for increases and that the attitudes of the department’s employees may also be driving potential recruits away.

At a meeting late last month with the department, Commissioner Jake Strissel expressed sympathy for the department members and their situation, but when asked about Hungerford’s criticisms of the commission by the Havre Daily News disputed her reasoning that the employees should be paid more because of their educational requirements.

He also pushed back on the idea that the commission has been uncommunicative or disrespectful in their dealings with the department.

Hill County Public Health Director Kim Berg said at Monday’s meeting that if the commission doesn’t act to rectify this situation very soon, it will only result in more resignations.

At Monday’s meeting, Commissioner Williams said she wanted to lay ground rules for the coming discussion, asking everyone to be respectful and understand that no decision was going to be made that day.

“There’s a lot of questions to be asked and answered,” Williams said.

She said she’s done a tremendous amount of research on this matter and educated herself because that’s what the health department has been requesting of the commission.

She asked members of the department about how many positions they have, which are totally grant funded and how overtime is handled.

Berg said the department structures its weeks to minimize overtime costs to the county and she uses as much of their grants for wages as they possibly can, using supplemental funds from the county as little as they possibly can.

She said their grants are primarily population-based, so there’s no way to increase them unless the area sees a significant increase in residents.

Williams suggested that the department and commission look at the grants to see if they can change how they are being used to free up more money for wages, but Berg said she doesn’t see a way to do that.

Williams asked about how the employees’ various certifications are paid for and empoyees said that while many are paid for through the grants or by the county, some come out of employees’ pockets.

Williams also asked why health department employee Tami Schoen hadn’t taken the position of WIC Coordinator despite clearly being qualified.

Schoen said if she took that position she wouldn’t see any raise in compensation from what she is already getting, and taking on a job that with more responsibilities, more stringent requirements, more pressure and likely more hours is not something she can do if it doesn’t result in any benefit in wages.

“I would love to take that position ... but I can’t justify that for my family,” she said.

Berg and others have said a problem compounding the wage issue is that long-time employees don’t see much of a raise in compensation even after working for the county for many years.

During a meeting with Strissel last month, Berg, who is also Hill County’s public health officer, said the average wage for a public health officer in Montana is over $40 an hour, and after 13 years on the job, she is at $26.

Employees of the department asked about recent wage increases given to the Hill County Sheriff’s Office employees and how those were paid for, with Commissioner Jake Strissel saying those raises were a result of union negotiations.

Hill County Treasurer Sandy Brown, who also attended Monday’s meeting, said the county’s Compensation Board meets once a year to discuss pay as well, and while that board only deals directly with the wages of elected officials, the county typically mirrors any increase to elected officials across the county.

The group briefly discussed a recent 5 % cost-of-living raise given to employees by the county to address ongoing inflation, but Berg said that is not a replacement for a wage increase and 5 % wasn’t even enough to cover inflation.

She said she understands the county couldn’t keep up with the increased cost of living, but something needs to be done.

The group also discussed the possibility of going to the public with a request for a tax increase, which the commission had briefly considered earlier this year before deciding that the cost of holding a special election was too high to justify.

After some discussion Berg suggested the commission consider allowing the department to restructure, eliminating a few unfilled positions and freeing up enough money to pay for better wages without the need for the county or public to supply additional funds.

Williams said she thinks that’s a good idea, as there are counties in Montana with similar or larger populations and smaller departments, but she requested more time to look at the department’s grants.

Berg asked what specific information she needs, reiterating that she’s already done as much as she can with the grants to solve this issue and the problem needs to be solved as quickly as possible or the department is going to lose its remaining employees.

“That is the desperation point I am at right now,” she said.

Berg said the department was promised by Peterson more than a month ago that the commission would have a plan to deal with the issue, and they are still waiting for the issue to be resolved.

Peterson said his statement, made at a Hill County Board of Health meeting in early February, referred to the commission possibly setting up a special election, a plan that they decided against in the end.

At the February meeting, Peterson said the commission would come to the department with a plan to raise wages within a week, though later in the meeting he expanded that timeline to 10 days.

The department didn’t see movement on the issue until four weeks later, when Strissel met with the department to talk about the issue, a meeting that mostly consisted of department employees offering suggestions about ways to raise their wages, most of which had been brought up in previous meetings.

The commission agreed to hold another meeting with the department to discuss Berg’s proposed restructuring March 20 at 10 a.m. in the commissioner’s office.