County extends bonuses in CYF
HOLLIDAYSBURG — Blair County is following through with retention incentive payments for union-represented employees in the Children, Youth & Families department.
Commissioners Tuesday agreed to a side letter with the Service Employees International Union awarding one-time bonus payments to caseworkers, clerk typists and social service aides.
The vote applies to an estimated 27 employees, Commissioner Laura Burke said Tuesday, with the payments set at $2,500 payments for full-time caseworkers and $1,500 payments for part-time caseworkers, full-time clerk typists and full-time social service aides. Part-time clerical personnel will receive $1,000, she said.
The retention bonuses for the union-represented employees follow action taken in September to award $3,000 retention bonus payments to eight CYF supervisors and $1,500 to one fiscal operations officer.
In taking action Tuesday, commissioners Chairman Dave Kessling mentioned that federal money from the Family First Transition Funds is available to cover the cost of these additional payments — so they can be awarded at no cost to the general fund.
The county received $150,000 from the Family First Transition Funds that it pledged to partly use toward retaining employees in a department that lost significant staff during the COVID-19 pandemic and has struggled to hire replacements. That loss of personnel was blamed for operational shortcomings that resulted in four provisional licenses before the state required the county to negotiate an agreement that would allow its license to be restored.
As part of that agreement, commissioners have referenced a component of the agreement requiring the county to engage in employee retention and recruitment efforts.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, commissioners voted in favor of signing a side letter with the SEIU to continue offering hiring incentives to newly hired CYF full-time caseworkers through Dec. 31, 2025.
This extends an already existing practice, Burke said.
Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.