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As of Monday this week, county Health and Human Services social worker duties which may be affected by the ongoing strike of the last several weeks will be picked up by a temporary agency.  The Chisago County Board unanimously approved a contract at their meeting July 15 to use the services of “Temp Social Work Inc.” a contractor based in St. Paul for a sum not to exceed $250,000.  The temp contract became effective July 20.

The temp firm provides qualified staff to do child protection case management, MNChoices assessments and case management, adult mental health and children’s mental health case management and other social work or oversight services the county might require.

The company is compensated at $63 to $69 per hour depending on the employee's licensure and experience, but temp agencies get a percentage for administrative costs. Chisago County also provides portable computer gear and pays mileage at the federal established rate.

The Press attempted to see if this is in the range of existing budgeted expenses for HHS but Teamsters union secretary-treasurer and principal officer Erik Skoog declined comment.

Chisago County may opt to hire temp workers outright after they have put in 350 hours.  If the county hires a contract employee directly during or within six months of their assignment, the county pays a placement fee of several thousand dollars.

Also at an earlier Board meeting the commissioners supported allowing private sector septic inspections instead of all in house.  The regulatory revision was not presented as being related to the strike but as an issue the county has been reviewing for sometime. The County Board was advised that all but a couple of Minnesota counties allow private inspections to be certified for septic system compliance.

Kurt Schneider, Environmental services Director, mentioned at last week’s Board meeting the non-governmental inspections are already being utilized but there’s some misunderstanding on requests for new and replacement septic projects.

Chisago County employed agents are responsible for inspections of new systems and those being replaced.

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