Is Franklin Co. on the verge of losing another HR director after just 4 months?

Feb. 22—Franklin County has only had a new human resources director for a few months, and they’re already considering leaving because of continuing strife in county government.

Human Resources director Sam Hughes did not mince words at last week’s commission meeting about the impact of ongoing feuds between elected officials and county employees.

“I had one of the worst days professionally yesterday, which made me really examine whether I want to continue to work here or not,” she said.

“Rather than going to work and having positive experiences, which is normal to me, I feel like I’ve stepped into a scene from (the film) War of the Roses. I am not 100% dead here, but I plan to meet with some of you to see what we can do to stop the exodus of personnel and the carnage that disrupts this organization on a continual basis.”

Ongoing employee issues

It’s unclear exactly what prompted the comments because the three county commissioners adjourned to a closed-door executive session to discuss the matter.

If Hughes were to leave, she would be the third HR director to do so since November 2021.

Both of her predecessors cited hostile and toxic behavior from elected officials in their resignations.

Some of the major challenges Hughes’ department is currently facing include a civil lawsuit brought by the Teamsters union against Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, a rescinded pay raise for the county clerk’s office and a search for a new county administrator to replace Keith Johnson who left about a year after two failed surprise attempts to fire him.

The lawsuit brought by the Teamsters is ongoing, while the county is finalized a negotiated settlement with the union that represents the clerk’s office employees.

“From what I can gather she is experiencing some of the same challenges her predecessors over the last 18 months experienced,” Commissioner Brad Peck told the Herald.

In recent years, Franklin County also has seen clashes between elected officials spill over into public meetings, such as an April conflict about who should pay for a damaged county vehicle, the sudden resignation of former Assessor Peter McEnderfer who cited political drama, and frequent blowups between commissioners.

One of the issues has been pay concerns and the ability to recruit and retain employees.

In November, commissioners approved a two-step pay increase for clerk’s office employees, in a 2-1 vote with Peck voting against it.

Peck told the Herald he was concerned with the raise being given to an individual office without a countywide salary study done, and in doing so would cause friction with other departments that also deserved raises to make their compensation more competitive.

Peck also had concerns about the move not being properly addressed with the union ahead of the vote.

The raise was later rescinded, but not before employees in the clerk’s office had already started receiving the pay bump.

Interim County Administrator Duane Davidson told the Herald that the negotiated settlement, finalized Feb. 21, means they won’t have to pay back that extra money.

“I absolutely think that a salary survey is overdue, it’s relatively common for counties to do them. I think it’s been 6 years since we’ve done one,” Peck told the Herald. “It was the nature of doing one-off increases that I said would lead to a cascade of similar equally justified requests.”

Peck said he hopes to see the salary survey completed later this year, and then work together to ensure all of their employees are being treated fairly.

“We should treat our employees as best we can,” he said. “One of the ways to divide your workforce is disparate treatment. Sure enough we had a cascade of (pay increase) requests from other departments and still didn’t have any progress on a wage study.”

New administrator

Chairman Clint Didier said he couldn’t comment on specifics of the issue Hughes was referring to, but told the Herald that “since (Interim) County Administrator Duane Davidson stepped in office the Courthouse, morale has greatly improved due to his outstanding leadership skills.”

Davidson is the former elected treasurer of Benton County and then Washington. He agreed to come out of retirement in October to help the county during budgeting and until they could find a replacement for Johnson.

Davidson told the Herald at the time that he hoped to help improve some of the relationships within the county courthouse.

The county is currently in the process of interviewing candidates for the position. Interviews will be held in executive session on Monday, Feb. 27, at the HAPO Center, followed by a public meet and greet with finalists from 6-7 p.m.

This story was originally published February 22, 2023, 3:48 PM.

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