Agenda

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D. 4

To:	Board of Supervisors
From:	Ed Woo, Chief Information Officer
Date:	June 16, 2015

Contra

Costa

County

Subject:

Extend Temporary Employment Period for County Retiree Neomi Markison

APPROVE	OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR	RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE

Action of Board On: 06/16/2015

APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED

OTHER

Clerks Notes:

VOTE OF SUPERVISORS

AYE:

John Gioia, District I Supervisor
Candace Andersen, District II Supervisor
Mary N. Piepho, District III Supervisor
Karen Mitchoff, District IV Supervisor

ABSENT:

Federal D. Glover, District V Supervisor

Contact:

Ed Woo 925-383-2688

I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: June 16, 2015
David Twa,

BY:	, Deputy

RECOMMENDATION(S):

1. FIND that the appointment of Mrs. Markison is necessary to fill a critically needed position; and

2. APPROVE and AUTHORIZE extension of the term of temporary employment of Neomi Markison, retired Information Systems Programmer Analyst, Department of Information Technology, for the period April 28, 2015 through June 30, 2016.

FISCAL IMPACT:

If the request is granted, there will continue to be salary and employment tax payments up to a maximum of $41,040 for up to 960 hours per year. These costs will be offset by savings due to the vacancy of the permanent position. There is no additional fiscal impact. Salary costs are included in the Department's operating budget.

BACKGROUND:

The department would like to extend Ms. Markison's temporary employment term due to ongoing back-up support for the Karpel District Attorney case managment system implementation. It is expected that Neomi will work minimal hours and in emergency situations, as needed.

The Public Employee Pension Reform Act of 2013 requires that active members who retire on or after January 1, 2013 must wait 180 days after retirement before returning to work as a temporary employee. The Act also allows the Board, based on a finding that the appointment is necessary to fill a critically needed position, to waive the 180 day "sit out" period.

Mrs. Markison retired from the Department of Information Technology on March 29, 2014. She served in a key role in the maintenance and support of the Law and Justice Information System, which is a set of mission critical applications serving the Superior Court and the Probation, Public Defender, District Attorney and Sheriff Departments. Her particular knowledge and expertise with the County's mainframe is essential to continuing mainframe support and the design, testing, and troubleshooting of the key interfaces between the Superior Court legacy system and the new District Attorney and Probation Case Management Systems. The skills required to develop these interfaces are highly specialized and require a detailed understanding of the business processes. With over 30 years of experience in this area, Mrs. Markison is uniquely qualified to perform this work. The Department does not have any other staff that possess the specialized technical and business knowledge of the County justice systems and who can complete the work that is essential to the implementation of the new case management systems.

The Department of Information Technology has been struggling to attract and retain staff with knowledge and skills related to mainframe technology. Having Mrs. Markison working on these projects with our junior staff will, moreover, enable her to continue mentoring and training them for succession planning purposes.

CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:

Disapproval of the request will jeopardize the new and legacy automated systems that are critical to the operation of the Superior Court and the County's law and justice departments, the serious consequences of which cannot be overstated.