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The Oct. 12 meeting of the Clark County Fiscal Court saw the approval of some changes that will make a difference for county employees.

By a 5-2 vote with Magistrates Travis Thompson and Robert Blanton as “no” votes, the Fiscal Court approved the adoption of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP) as the new human resource and payroll management services provider for city employees.

This topic had also been talked about at a previous fiscal court meeting.

“My recommendation is still the same from the last meeting. I think the way to go is ADP,” said the county’s human resources administrator Janet Townsend. “We have an inefficient process. I’m asking for your partnership in helping me make it more effective.”

Magistrate Thompson, who had spoken against adopting ADP in the most recent meeting, challenged whether they would save money through the process.

“I know what she’s saying. She’s saying we’re going to save more money on recruitment [and] retention”, said Thompson. “I get that…but we’re not going to save money.”

Townsend responded that – among other reasons – through people working on those issues and the streamlining process, money would be saved.

“I think time will tell that there is saving there,” she said.

Clark County Judge-Executive Henry Branham offered his support.

“I’ll have to say [that] I would go off the recommendation of Janet,” he said. “I feel that she deserves an opportunity since she has done all the research and all the presentations and everything…To try to provide a better system for the county.”

ADP will go live in January 2023, while the fiscal court will approve invoices provided per pay period.

Halloween funds

Winchester will celebrate Halloween Main-ia on October 29 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m downtown.

This event will host trick or treating, a costume parade, a scavenger hunt, and more.

Cameron Correll – project coordinator of Winchester Design Studio – pledged the court for $500.

“This will help pay for the [equipment] and additional candy to help supplement our tables,” she said. “We are expecting about one thousand kids, but who knows what that number will actually look like after a few years of not having Halloween Main-ia.”

The fiscal court unanimously agreed to contribute $500 from the community fund.

Insurance

Curtis Schwartz, Employee Benefits Advisor for USI Insurance, spoke with the fiscal court regarding insurance matters.

Mainly, he talked about stop-loss insurance.

Presently, the Fiscal Court is self-funded with no paid fixed premium. The only insurance paid for is stop-loss, designed to protect against losses because of disasters or similar means. There are two different types of stop-loss insurance: specific and aggregate.

Schwartz recommended that the fiscal court renews with HCC or Houston Casualty Company.

“The market was competitive in the sense of premium but not competitive in the sense of claims factors,” Schwartz said.

A motion was made and approved to renew coverage and authorize the Judge-Executive to sign off all associated documents.

A long-term agreement to work with USI Insurance will also be written and sent to the Clark County Attorney for approval.

Editor’s note: The original print version of this story in Tuesday’s paper mistakenly referred to county employees as city employees.