By Hayden Schultz, New Castle News

The Lawrence County Salary Board granted a one-time bonus for Children and Youth Services workers in a push to retain them in their positions.

The one-time, $2,000 job retention incentive for non-union employees is paid for by the federally funded Family First Transition Act. The total cost, fully covered by the federal government, is $14,000. Pennsylvania’s Office of Children, Youth and Families encouraged the use of retention incentives to retain staff, according to CYS Director John Bout.

The reasoning behind the increases in salary is related to a struggle in retention across the board for CYS workers, according to Chairman Dan Vogler.

“Very many counties CYS offices are facing a challenge of finding and keeping employees. It’s very challenging work,” Vogler said in support of the pay changes. “And with the inflationary pressures that we’ve all been experiencing, it’s made it all the more difficult.”

Three other other CYS resolutions passed unanimously during Tuesday’s meeting.

A $200 weekly stipend for non-union, on-call kinship program supervisors and foster program care specialists is paid for in majority by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania via the Act 148 State Budget. The county’s cost is $2,080, or 20 percent of the total.

The receptionist position will be eliminated and the administrative assistant I position will take its place with a base pay of $33,787, $3,152 higher than the receptionist position. The county will also pay 20 percent of the cost via Act 148, or $630 total.

A resolution relating to the county’s information technology department was also unanimously passed.

Historically, the IT department had three members, according to Vogler.

The IT department is currently responsible for 13 buildings and around 400 employees and supported by two members of staff.

For the county’s IT department, a new, non-union position titled “support/IT help desk” will replace the vacant position of “PC/phone system technician.” The salary for the new position is $40,000. The position was previously budgeted and won’t affect the county’s budget.

At the March 26 meeting, the following salaries were unanimously approved:

•Jail: Shift commander captains, increased to $62,400; maintenance director, increased by $8,000; maintenance technician, increased by $5,000; information specialist, increased to $31,200

•Coroner: Chief deputy coroner created with a salary of $52,000; office manager/deputy coroner created with a salary of $42,000

•Sheriff: Lieutenant, increased to $65,000; chief deputy sheriff, base rate increased to $70,000

•Mental Health Development Services: ID Director, increased by $3,100; EI coordinator/DS compliance increased by $2,700; block grant coordinator, increased by $4,300

•Controller: Chief deputy controller, increased by $2,000; second deputy controller, increased by $1,500; pension administrator, increased by $1,500

Hayden Schultz is a student at Slippery Rock University and one of 10 Pittsburgh Media Partnership summer interns. Hayden is interning with the New Castle News.