AREAS OF CONCERN 5: ADDRESSING OFFICE UNDERSTAFFING

In the SR “Live Q & A” on-line forum on October 28, 2008 a reader asked the following question: If elected or reelected, will you make any changes with the current staff? Johnson’s simple answer was, “Yes, additions!”

Her opponents answer was much more detailed: “I will not terminate any member of the present staff, however the staff will be reorganized into more manageable units. After reviewing position descriptions, a discussion with each employee will be held to determine their strong points and weak points and capabilities. Once I obtain that information I will also determine what training or retraining requirements must be accomplished for individuals or as a group.”

In the same SR article, a reader asks, “Q: Do you think the way the clerk of courts office is currently set up you have enough employees to do all the work?”

Johnson’s response: “No, I feel that we do not have enough employees. Professionally, I must continue to try to do more with less. In these times of shrinking resources, I am challenged to find better ways of doing things in the office. We are also looking at things that we must eliminate altogether.” After some fluff / flower talk she continues, “Erie County added an additional judge and related staff, which multiplied our workload. My challenge is to find new ways to work and expand my ability to lead with less.”

Well, she was correct in saying that she must, “continue to do more with less” and that she is, “challenged to find better ways of doing this in the office.” She was also correct in saying that with the addition of a fourth judge, her workload has multiplied.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it looks like there won’t be any additions; she can’t even hire people to replace the ones that have recently retired.

Within the past year, there have been 4 staff members in the COC office that have retired.

Mrs. Johnson knew well in advance that these employees were retiring. Common sense would tell you that she would have hired new employees to take the retirees place, and that she would have hired them a month or 2 BEFORE said employees retired so that the veterans (retirees) could train the rookies (new employees). Well, out of 4 retirees, she has hired 2 replacements. She never did hire a third or fourth person to replace two of the retirees. And now the county is looking at ALL county offices to cut their budgets by 10%, so I guess hiring a third and fourth person to help in the already strapped office is a no-go. She even had permission to hire two new people to replace the 2 retirees in December 2008 (well after said people retired), but she never acted on it. If she had acted on it, then she would not be in this mess now. But that is typical Johnson procrastinating behavior, “I’ll do it when I get around to it.” The only problem is she never gets the “Round Tuit.”

One more thing; rumor has it that Johnson had a meeting with county commissioners sometime the week of February 2. She tried to argue how she needed more personnel. However, she came to the meeting completely unprepared. As a result, she got nothing from the commissioners - except to cut her budget by 10%.

It looks like the County Commissioners are ganging up on Johnson or don’t care what she has to say. But then on the other hand, she always comes to meetings unprepared and, in my observations, she doesn’t seem to do anything to help her staff or to “fight” for them as it were. She usually just takes whatever the commissioners say to her, then cowers and says weakly, “OK, what ever you commissioners say, I will do.”

According to this March 20, 2009 SR article, “Erie County commissioners propose early retirement, rehiring as part-time employees” the commissioners would like to cut the workers time even further. If the commissioners get their way, those poor ladies in that office will NEVER EVER see the light at the end of the tunnel! ! From the looks of that office now with files strewn all over the place, there is no hope in sight. It is very frustrating to go into that office to look up specific case files and not be able to find them. This happens all the time.

But then Johnson didn’t run on the campaign slogan of “Hope and Change” (who was that anyway?) because she knew that there wouldn’t be any change and definitely no hope what so ever. I would like to ask the girls in that office, why would you take an early retirement and come back to work in THAT office? As an “outsider,” I can see that the stress level in that office is unbelievable, and to see their boss walk around not giving a damn is just inhumane on Johnson’s part ! ! !

Again, if she would just think “outside the box,” just a tiny bit, (which she has proven time and time again that she is incapable of doing, or she just doesn’t give a damn) she would see a few little tricks to help her staff without having to hire more people. Such things as purchasing productivity software and hardware, including the proper amount of scanners (she only has one scanner for the entire office, and that one is antiquated) would help her current staff tremendously.

Also, an automated telephone answering system would also help tremendously. And then there is also the “RECORDS ON LINE” that (in my opinion) will never get done as long as she is at the helm. These things could be bought and the county would save thousands of dollars because they would not have to pay salary or benefits to these items like they would have to pay to a human being. These would all reduce the amount of time that her staff now must devote to serving the public. After all, wasn’t her campaign cry “CUSTOMER SERVICE!” ? ? ? She just forgot to interject the word “Good” or “Quality” first. I’ll admit, she does have customer service (I think there is some) but it’s poor at best and it is no fault of her staff!

She seems to be in the office a lot more than before the 2008 election, but nothing is getting done. If she is in the office more, what is she doing? Because ladies and gentlemen, NOTHING is changing in that office! And there needs to be a TON of changes in that office to allow it to operate much more efficiently than she is running it, and to bring it into the 21st century. What is she doing with her time in that office?

To you the voter I ask: Does this look like she is doing the job that she was elected by YOU THE VOTERS AND TAX PAYERS of Erie County to do?

See the SR article here.


Next weeks article in this series will be on microfilming closed cases (and I’m afraid that this will be a very short article because from my observations, it looks as if nothing has been done in this area...again).