Staff shortages in the Plumas County Human Resources Department (HR) have reached emergency levels. Soon, there will be just one person left in the department, which normally includes five full time staffers.
The Board of Supervisors will spend $50,000 in county general funds to hire a consultant. It is also considering two out-of-county contracts to provide support to the beleaguered department, and authorizing a $10-an-hour stipend for an HR worker.
“We’re used to herding cats. We’re not used to herding cats on fire.”
Debra Lucero, county administrative officer
“This is a crisis,” said County Administrative Officer Debra Lucero. “We’re used to herding cats. We’re not used to herding cats on fire.”
HR is critical to a wide variety of functions that make Plumas County run smoothly, Lucero said. The HR Department recruits personnel for vacant county positions, provides a qualified list of candidates for interviewing by department heads, and serves as the official depository for each county employee’s personnel file. The department head processes grievances, and serves as the county’s affirmative action officer.
Department Director Nancy Selvage has been on administrative leave for over a month. On Nov. 16 District Attorney David Hollister charged her with three felony counts stemming from her alleged activity as a department head on and following May 17, 2022.
The HR department’s second in command is on family leave, Lucero said. A third person has moved to another department, and the fourth is expected to resign or retire in late January, Lucero told the supervisors Dec. 19.
“That leaves one person standing,” she said.
The supervisors addressed the department’s backlog of unmet responsibilities on Dec. 12. They agreed to hire a consultant to investigate grievances brought by and about county employees.
The $50,000 cost will come from the $15.6 million in an unassigned fund balance available for the supervisors to allot at their discretion. A contract with Municipal Resource Group, Inc. was approved unanimously at the supervisors’ Dec. 12 meeting. It will allow the Sacramento-based company to perform “investigative services regarding allegations of misconduct of Plumas County employees,” according to Exhibit A of the information included in the board’s Dec. 12 agenda packet.
Deputy County Counsel Josh Brechtel said the investigations are critical to minimizing the impact of grievances on the county.
“A mild employment grievance can fester into something where it goes to the Labor Board, and then all of a sudden, we have civil lawsuits involved. And as we all know, that can become very, very expensive,” said Brechtel, who presented the issue to the county supervisors. Normally, he said, it would have been introduced by Selvage.
“This isn’t an extra help position,” said Lucero. “This isn’t somebody that you can just bring in off the street. You need expertise to keep up with the current laws.”
Municipal Resource Group will receive $250 an hour to interview witnesses, write reports and perform the necessary research, according to Exhibit B, included in the Board’s Dec. 12 agenda. Because the Municipal Resource Group has held several contracts with Plumas County, the county was not required to seek bids from other companies, Lucero said.
The County Counsel’s office will receive the findings obtained by Municipal Resources, a professional strategic services company hired by cities, counties and governmental agencies. It previously conducted an investigation of the Plumas County Sheriff’s Office that resulted in a months-long controversy.
The supervisors are considering writing a separate one-time contract with Municipal Resource to provide higher level services to the county’s HR department while Selvage remains on administrative leave, Lucero said. She also asked the supervisors to consider hiring a parttime person to work as support staff for $125 an hour.
The board took no action on either contract at its Dec. 19 meeting.