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Home My WebLink AboutBoard of Commissioners - Minutes - 09/17/1998• • • MINUTES OF THE OTTER TAIL COUNTY LABOR MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE Otter Tail Power Division Office South Dakota Conference Room Thursday, September 17, 1998 1:00 p.m. · Call to Order Present: Brooks Andersen, Leon Anderson, Al Anderson, Steve Andrews, Pauline Barry, Sharon Bjork, Joanne Derby, Sandi Gundberg, Mike Hanan, David Hauser, Cheryl Jones, Merle King, Chuck Kitzman, Larry Krohn, Malcolm Lee, Lane Magnusson, Wendy Metcalf, Lori Morrell, Kathy Ouren, Michele Petterson, Bud Pierce, Virginia Partmann, Vicki Schwanke, Dennis Soderstrom, Rick Sytsma, Jeff Thompson, Gary Waskosky, and Rick West. Larry Krohn called the Labor Management Committee meeting to order at 1 :00 p.m. The following individual notified the Coordinator's Office of his planned absence: Doug Walvatne. Approval of Agenda -September 17, 1998 Labor Management Committee approved the agenda of September 17, 1998 . Approval of Minutes -August 20, 1998 Labor Management Committee approved the minutes of August 20, 1998, with the following correction: Open Forum Changed from: Individual questions from employees should be directed to the personnel committee. Changed to: Individual questions from employees can be brought forward here and they will be forwarded to the Personnel Committee or the Personnel Board as appropriate. Norms of Behavior Subcommittee presented updated list of Norms of Behavior as follows: • Respectful of Others • Honest • Same Goals • Hats Off at the Door • Focused • Maintain Problem Solving Attitude • Safe Environment • Sense of Humor • Commitment • Trust • Non-Judgmental The Labor Management Committee adopted norms of behavior as presented. Otter Tail County Labor Management Committee September 17, 1998 Page 2 ( Communication At the last meeting it was decided that Labor Management Committee members were going to meet with their departments to see if there were any areas of concern regarding communication. C One area brought forward was to find a more formal way of distributing information, rather than it being "word of mouth". Departments discussed locations where posting information is located. Locations are as follows: . _ ~~I!~ _'!"!_~s_!~. ____________ . __ .... __ .. _ .. _I!')_ ~e_cyc:_1!11_9 __ <;:_~_~te_r -~e_c1_r _l_u11_~-~!<>~1!1. ~-~_<?_ff ~s_(t_e _ \o_~c1_~i<>11_~ _______________ _ Social Services Wash. Ave. Near lunchroom -------------------------.. --... -..... ----. -----------------------------------------... -... -------. ----------------------------------------- . -"-~<?r_ne_y_'s_ _()f!i_~e_ _____________________ ()fryc:_e_ _s~pJJ!Y. ~~o-~ _f!.~!'!le ____________________________________________________________ _ _ _ ~e_c_'!!~e_(~ _ ()f!(ce_. _. ____ . ____________ s_~!')! _to_ e_c1_c~ .P.~!.s~r:i. _________________________________________________________________ _ _ -"'~-~!!~r'_s _ ()ffi~e_. _. __ .. _______________ -~-~!')!_to_ e_c1_c~ .P~!.s~n __ . _ .. ____ . _______________________________________________________ _ Treasurer's Office Vault door -----------------------------... -....... --.. ---------------------------. ---. ---... -.. -... -... ---. -. ----------------------------------------- . _ ~e_~. X ~rk_ !\'li_l!~. _'?_U!\di11_9 __________ . _B_r_~cl_~ r_o<>rn ______________________________________________________________________________ _ _ _ El~_i!~i_r:1£! _ r.Jl_~ir:i_t_e!')c1_n_ce_ ______________ S_ufle_rv!~_or's_ _office_. __ . ________ . _______________________________________________________ _ _ _ ~h_erjff_~ _ ~e_p~_rt~e_nJ_. _ .. _ .. __ . _ .. __ H_all~c1_y_ <>! _i:i:ic1_in_tE!!')a_r:ic:e_ ~~<?-~ ____ .. __ .. ___ . ________________________ . ______________ _ Court Services In each office ---------------------. --.......... -. -. -. --.. --------------------------------------------... -. -........... -.... ----... --. ----. -.. --·-. -.. ---- . -~cl_!I _______________________________________ IJY<>~~ _r~!e_a_~e_ -~_nt~ ___________________________________________________________________ _ Court Administration Old break room ····-···········-----------------------------·---··-···--··--···-··--·---·-·--------·-------------------------------------------------------.. t'! ig_~'N-~)' _ i;>e_p_~rt!'!l~-~t _______________ E_~i;![':l_ee_~[n_lj _~-~_Ill:. i_n_ C:.<?_~rt~o-~s_~ __ &_ -~ ~ _<?f!~s_i_tE! _ g_ar_ai;!e_~ ____________________ _ Social Services South In lunch room Discussed what to do when there is incorrect newspaper media. Discussion on dealing with newspaper media, quotes out of context, and solving incorrect news print. Discussion on dealing with the community and how to get information out to the public. Discussed how minutes are distributed and how are they posted. If they are not being posted, inform Larry Krohn in the Coordinator's Office. An information board can get so overrun with information; we have to have some timeframe on items. Put a note on your informational board, saying that after ten days, information will be removed. Group consensus that this will now resolve the issue of communication between the commissioners and employees. Discussion on office to office communication. At the beginning of each meeting, we need to review the norms of behavior. The norms of behavior helps you run the meetings, this is one of the biggest tasks. The second piece of meetings are listening skills. Don't forget to use these tools. Most conflict starts because people aren't hearing and/or listening to each other. C Discussion on chain of communications -Take a look at how is it operating now, how effective it is presently. How do we make it more effective? Are we talking about inner department, department to department or employee to employee? Department to department is the most important. Discussion on understanding what we do and how it effects other departments. Discussion on how departments interface with other departments in the process of communications. Discussion on data privacy. Discussion on how Otter Tail County has changed over the last ten years. Discussed interaction between departments. All departments have staffing and budget levels; we are all scurrying to get our jobs done. We have a major communication challenge ahead of us with C the moving of departments out of the courthouse. Management and labor in each department -- should sit down and review each of their departments -what is working, what is not working. At the next meeting, bring back a list of things that are working and not working within your • • • Otter Tail County Labor Management Committee September 17, 1998 Page 3 department. All departments want to work together. 'Sometimes some of the understanding and communications get mixed up. Speed of communication -we need to discuss this issue in each department. Just sit down with your department and brainstorm for a few minutes. Maybe we can start with this issue at this at the next meeting. We have a consensus to review this as the first item under communications next meeting. Have each department location brainstorm their ideas and concerns. Part of the reason we have a communication problem is that the majority of county employees used to work in the courthouse. All of a sudden we have people working at many different locations. Open Forum Discussed of agenda items for the next meeting. Adjournment At 2:50 p.m., Larry Krohn declared the meeting of the Otter Tail County Labor Management Committee adjourned until 1 :00 p.m. on Thursday, October 15, 1998. /srb Attachment • • • Otter Tail County Labor/Management Committee Norms of Behavior ■ Respectful of Others ■ Honest ■ Same Goals ■ Hats Off at the Door ■ Focused ■ Maintain Problem Solving Attitude ■ Safe Environment ■ Sense of Humor ■ Commitment ■ Trust ■ Non-Judgmental •-1iVmb ~/~/ ,£,_ • • J~-~- 1 ~ . CU\.., ) y---...,1!~~ I : / -~ u~----~ ~cvz,.,., ~~ .. I /_ ("'.CJ'l /)v1J()1 '.J''Y\. -:'~~rO /0?. :I~ #,,v',9./ . ,,,....::J..).,UliYf't::;'M,~ I ~~ '='~ -- ~'\(_'1---'--~~ . I ~1v1. -'11 I JiJ.]1 /TIM:?t-~ I~~ rf3 ad (/ +rdZ CJz u M f) r+ 2m 1r;v _ ri<\c...L ~ est· ----------- &d, (J}~ c::... __ j:).. ~~ d--/2.r,FF~ 'JJ~f:t--_ . \~~ ~ ~-. ~.Sf.£. 82~tJt~ - '3 J..e.i r:eo .. 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