With her husband having left Cook County Schools for a job as superintendent of Virginia (Minnesota) schools, Cook County Public Health & Human Services Director Sue Futterer has asked for permission to do part of her work out of the county. Getting approval was anything but a slamdunk, however.
On Tuesday, September 22, 2009, Futterer met with the five county commissioners to discuss her request. She started the conversation by saying that she frequently has meetings outside the county that would require less time to attend if she left from Virginia rather than Grand Marais. She couldn’t, however, outline exactly what her schedule would be if she worked remotely because her schedule varies so much from month to month. She estimated she would be in the office over half of the working days in November if her request were granted.
Commissioner Jan Hall stated that much of Futterer’s job requires being “in-house, hands-on.” She pointed out that Futterer’s salary has been raised at Futterer’s request when new responsibilities have been added that were not in the job description when she was hired. Those responsibilities include taking on directorship of the public health department that was previously a separate department, emergency management responsibilities, and work conditions that involve elevated risk factors. Hall said Futterer is making $77,772 a year plus benefits. Futterer said she had gone to the Personnel Committee twice to have her job description reviewed. No added compensation was offered to her when she took on the Public Health Department, she said.
Hall said she did not see how changes in her personal life should alter Futterer’s availability in the office. “I can’t believe it’s in the best interest of Cook County to operate in this manner at this time,” she said, citing concerns about a potential community outbreak of the H1N1 virus.
Futterer responded by saying that she does not plan to be off-site all the time. Regarding H1N1 concerns, she said, “I think that we’re very well prepared at this point to deal with upcoming issues with H1N1.”
She added, “I don’t work 40 hours a week. I work much more than that. …I don’t believe I’ve ever neglected my job.”
Commissioner Bruce Martinson said he shared some of Hall’s concerns but was willing to allow the request if he would get a report every other month from Futterer and the two supervisors under her, Grace Bouchard and Jan Parish.
Hall asked Futterer how she could handle all that she does “in-house on-site” if she were not in the office and questioned what the arrangement would cost Bouchard and Parish in terms of their time and availability. Commissioner Fritz Sobanja said he wondered if the arrangement would require all three job descriptions to be changed. Futterer said Bouchard and Parish would rather have this than have her leave and be replaced by someone with less experience.
Futterer explained that much of her work is done by email and phone. She estimated that she spends five to seven days a month at meetings outside the county and expects that to increase as the state looks at potentially consolidating services across counties.
“Do you think I’m not going to be here ever?” Futterer asked. “Is that how little you trust me?”
“Some of this personal contact is essential to the service the county provides,” Commissioner Sobanja said. He talked about what the public’s perception of how available “the person at the top” would be if the request were granted.
Futterer said she could handle a lot of things by phone. She would still follow the same procedure for occasional client complaints, she said.
This would be an excellent opportunity to see if a director could do the job offsite in case the state’s plan to redesign human services leads to combining positions across counties, Commissioner Bruce Martinson said. The worst-case scenario would be that they could go back to the way things have been.
Thefirst person who would say the arrangement wasn’t working would be Futterer, County Attorney Tim Scannell said.
Commissioner Hall said she plans to interview Futterer’s staff to hear their opinions. Futterer said she has told the staff they are free to contact commissioners with any concerns.
Commissioner Jim Johnson said he was asking himself what would be best for Cook County. “I feel more comfortable with Sue there than taking a chance with someone else,” he said.
Many of the arguments presented have no relevance to Futterer’s ability to do the job remotely, Commissioner Bob Fenwick said. She could have proceeded to schedule more time away from the office without consulting with the board. “She could have done this in the dark,” he said.
Hall suggested that if Futterer were not really needed onsite full-time, they should perhaps look at other jobs in the county and how much the county is spending on them. Maybe they could save some money, she said.
Information Technology Director Danna MacKenzie sat beside Futterer during the discussion. She said that this arrangement would give the board the opportunity to try out having an employee work offsite like they would during a pandemic. It could also be considered a “pilot project” to evaluate the effectiveness of working offsite if county workspace became too crowded.
Futterer said she had tried to go through proper channels in making this request by speaking with department liaison Bob Fenwick and the Human Services Board. In the process of the discussion, Futterer said, “I felt very criticized.”
Hall said her questioning was “not personal.”
Futterer disagreed. “It’s about me,” she said.
By a 4-1 vote, the board passed a motion to grant Futterer a “flexible work plan” on a three-month trial basis. Casting the nay vote was Jan Hall.
Futterer wanted to know how the arrangement would be evaluated and asked to have County Attorney Tim Scannell looking into the legalities. The board agreed to have Commissioner Fenwick work with Personnel Director Janet Simonen to come up with “a proper tool” to evaluate the arrangement.
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