The Gilpin County Commissioners (BoCC) called their work session to order at 9 a.m. on May 21, 2024, at the Historic Courthouse in Central City. In attendance were Commissioners Susan Berumen (Chair), Marie A. Mornis, and Sandy Hollingsworth, as well as County Manager Ray Rears and County Attorney Brad Benning.

Benning handed out the written policy on electioneering to clear up any recent confusion. Electioneering includes campaigning for or against any candidate on the ballot, or for or against any ballot issue; the distribution or display of campaign posters, signs or other campaign materials, including apparel; and soliciting signatures for a candidate petition, a recall petition, or a petition to place an issue on a subsequent ballot.

These activities are prohibited within 100 feet of polling locations, i.e., the Gilpin Courthouse, the Community Center, and the polling station in Rollinsville. They are also prohibited within 20 days preceding the election. This year, the cutoff day for electioneering in these areas will be June 5.

Statute decrees: “No person shall do any electioneering on the day of any election, or during the time when any voting is permitted for any election, within any polling location or any public street or room or in any public manner within one hundred feet of a building in which a polling station is located, as publicly posted by the designated election official.”

Chanda Johnson, Director of Human Resources for the County brought to the Board’s attention a proposal regarding Employee Recruitment, Retention, & Referral Bonus for hard to fill positions.

The purpose is to provide a monetary incentive to candidates for applying for and filling critical safety-sensitive or hard-to-fill positions.

“There are struggles with recruitment and retention,” said Johnson. “There are a lot of positions that have not been filled since the nearby Denver market is competitive.”

Johnson proposed to bring this topic to the next regular board meeting. Rears said any of these positions would be offset by salary savings and that, as a whole, the County is below budget since 9% of the positions have yet to be filled.

To be eligible for the hiring bonus, the position must be open for over 12 months, critical to the safety of others, be approved as a critical need, and the direct supervisor must attend an in-person Human Resources-supported management training course that is at least eight hours long.

The hiring bonus for a position that has been vacant for 12-19 months would be given $1,000 30 days from the start of employment, with $2,500 allotted after six months of employment.

Retention bonus payments would increase based on how long a position remains unfilled, and would occur on the one-year anniversary of the hire date. Employees cannot receive both a hiring bonus and a retention bonus at the same time.

“Being short-staffed hurts,” said Johnson, and current employees will be likely to recommend potential coworkers if there is a referral bonus. The data on referrals show higher performance and longer retention.

There will be no limits on referral bonuses. After the referred employee has been working for six months, the referring employee will receive $300. After one year, $600.

Johnson said the estimated numbers are accounting for worst-case scenarios.

If a position remains unfilled after 24 months, there will be an investigation into the issue to analyze financial benchmarks.

Hollingsworth asked if Johnson’s intention would be to hire an outside consultant to investigate unfilled positions.

She said that could be the case, or it could be an internal deep-dive. Rears said that an outside group or consultant would be more objective and neutral in assessing why a position has not been filled.

Division Chiefs Sean Wheeler and Greg Demo attended the work session and discussed the issue with the BoCC.

“We are seeing a lot of positive feedback from our current staff,” said Demo. Supervisors may not be eligible for retention bonuses, and the hiring manager, or person who hires the new employee, would be ineligible for a bonus.

Rears asked the board what positions would be exempt.

“This is a toolbox and we are looking at various tools,” said Rears, explaining that this is part of the process and a piece of the puzzle in filling vacant positions.

Berumen mentioned positive marketing and getting the word out for the positions.

Rears asked for direction from the Board. He summarized key points and questions for them to consider before the next meeting on June 11:

• The word “bonus” would be changed to “incentive.”

• If supervisors are included, the BoCC should define exempt and non-exempt positions.

• Will the BoCC accept outside consulting regarding positions vacant longer than 24 months?

Johnson said the potential cost of instituting the recruitment and retention program would be $10,000 to $20,000 per year, but would come from salary savings, practically paying for itself.

The proposed referral program would be instituted the day it is approved, reevaluated annually; and the hiring and retention program may possibly be renewed every five years.

Berumen said it will be two to three years before the efficacy of the program could be evaluated.

The work session concluded at 11:53 a.m.

The next regular meeting of the Gilpin County Board of County Commissioners is scheduled for June 11, 2024, at 9 a.m. and will be held in person at the Historic Courthouse, 203 Eureka Street, Central City and online via Zoom.