Lee Pulaski, lpulaski@shawanoleader.com
The Shawano County Board voted unanimously Wednesday to merge the existing social services and community programs departments into a single human services department to streamline efficiency in vital services.
The merger takes effect Jan. 1.
“It is time for Shawano County to form a human services department,” County Board Chairman Jerry Erdmann said prior to the vote. “We are one of the last counties that doesn’t have a human services department.”
Only 10 of 72 Wisconsin counties have separate departments for their social services and community programs, according to Tom Madsen, county administrative coordinator.
An ad hoc committee of county supervisors and residents has met for the last three months to consider the merger and its impact on the county.
Yvette Mueller, a community programs department employee who helped research the merger, said the county annually can expect to save 6 percent of the $1.2 million it spent in 2014, about $71,200. Miller said the fiscal impact will be minimal, with most savings coming from reduced audit and technology service fees, along with fewer per diems due to having one governing board instead of two.
The big change is going to come in efficiencies. Mueller said there is no duplication of services between the two departments, but there will be point of entry for clients, as well as one system for computerized record keeping instead of the two.
By state statute, the county cannot eliminate any existing positions during the merger, Mueller said. However, more savings can be realized when positions are not refilled after staffers quit.
The merger received favorable recommendations from the community programs and social services boards, which both met on Sept. 11.
Melissa Schuler, who sat on the human services ad hoc committee, said that everyone on the committee agreed it was in the county’s best interest to merge the two departments into one. The employees agreed, she said.
“We found that they were ready and willing to merge those two departments,” Schuler said. “They were already working together to merge those two departments. We feel that, after our studies and working in our work groups, that they are ready to do that.”
Rick Kane, the social services director, will head the new department. Kelly Bueschel, the interim community programs director, will serve as the deputy director.
Several county supervisors expressed concern that the two department heads were put into their specific positions without prior approval from the County Board or committees. It was suggested to strip names from positions on an organizational chart, but Madsen said doing that would make the merging process more cumbersome.
Other supervisors said the board should not be tinkering with the merger plan at the 11th hour.
“We’ve gotten recommendations from the ad hoc committee and the other two boards. Let’s move forward with this so we can implement this by the first of the year,” Supervisor Kevin Conradt said.