Risk Management is currently a division of the County Administrator’s Office. Recently, the Manager over the Risk Management Division retired. While preparing to fill the position, Human Resources worked with the County Administrator’s Office to study the position. Through this process, it was determined that the Risk Management Division should be a separate stand-alone department in the County. The following factors contributed to this conclusion; the County has a hospital, which adds the complexity of medical malpractice risk management that not all Counties require; and the County manages Workers Compensation claims in-house, as opposed to using a third-party administrator for claims adjustment. The consequence of error and the impact on the County for this role also support making Risk Management a department rather than a division of the County Administrator’s Office. This new department head classification, Director of Risk Management-Exempt, is appropriate to oversee the new department.

If this action is not approved in the County Administrator's Office, Risk Management will not be properly staffed for the future.