St. Charles Parish Civil Service Board Meeting - April 28, 2026
St. Charles Parish Civil Service Board Meeting - April 28, 2026
The St. Charles Parish Civil Service Board met on April 28, 2026 at 6:00 PM in the Council Chambers. The board received updates on personnel activities, including hiring above entry rate, the 2026 wellness program, insurance renewal, training, and a job study. They also approved the minutes from December 9, 2025 and approved a new Engineering Administrative Specialist job description, which replaces a secretary and an engineer intern position, reducing the overall position count by one.
Personnel Updates
- Hiring above entry rate: Since December 2025, three employees were hired above entry rate: a Senior Multimedi Coordinator, a Procurement Tech I, and a Community Services Clerk/Receptionist. Staff noted they work closely with departments to ensure internal equity.
- 2026 Wellness Program: Staff presented the updated program emphasizing preventative care. Employees must complete an annual primary care physician visit to maintain a preferred health insurance rate of $40/month; otherwise, they face a $40 increase. Additional components include biometric screenings, health assessments, and wellness activities to earn a wellness day off. The program is coordinated with Ochsner. A board member expressed support, calling it a "win-win" for employees and the parish.
- Insurance Renewal: The renewal process is underway; details will be shared at the next meeting. Open enrollment is expected in late May to early June via Paycom.
- Family Medical Leave and Substance Abuse Policy Training: Staff conducted refresher training for managers on family medical leave. Additionally, the substance abuse ordinance was revised (last amended 2020) to modernize language on prescription and over-the-counter medications, emphasizing fitness for duty. No changes were made to medical marijuana policy, which continues to follow current law. A board member inquired about medical marijuana; staff noted they monitor the evolving legal landscape.
- Job Study Update: The job study, started in October 2025 with consultant SSA, is 53% complete. 95 positions have market data, 83 do not. 17.5 departments are complete, 3.5 remain (primarily Public Works). Staff aim to finish by mid-year (June) and will present results. A board member asked about frequency; staff noted an ordinance requires a study every three to five years.
- Awards Ceremony: A board member noted the awards breakfast went smoothly and inquired about communication of changes to employees. Staff confirmed perfect attendance was recognized at a separate luncheon.
- Civil Service League Dissolution: The dissolution of the Civil Service League requires an ordinance amendment regarding board member selection. Staff are working with the council secretary on the change. State Civil Service is a resource, not a governing body.
- Leadership Training: Additional leadership training with an outside consultant is scheduled for June; board members may be invited.
Discussion Items
- Consideration of Minutes: The board unanimously approved the minutes from the December 9, 2025 meeting.
- Request for New Job Description - Engineering Administrative Specialist: Miles Bingham, Director of Public Works, presented the request. The position would replace a retired secretary and an open engineer intern (EI) position, resulting in a net reduction of one position. The new role would provide technical support to engineers, relieving them of routine duties like database maintenance. It would report to the Senior Parish Engineer, Andre Ford. Bingham emphasized the heavy workload with 7–8 projects under construction and more nearing bid. A board member asked about chain of command and accountability. The motion to approve was seconded and carried.
Key Outcomes
- The minutes from December 9, 2025 were unanimously approved.
- The new Engineering Administrative Specialist job description was unanimously approved, replacing two eliminated positions (secretary and EI) and reducing overall position count by one.
- The meeting adjourned unanimously.
Note: No public comments were made as no members of the public were present.
Meeting Transcript
There we go. All right. To ensure that each meeting is conducted in orderly fashion and the board is able to gather all information needed to make a decision. The following rules shall prevail. Talking among attendees will not be allowed. Please wait to be recognized by the chairperson and proceed to the microphone when called upon. Everyone who wishes to speak will have the opportunity. When speaking at the microphone, there will be a five-minute time limit. Please make sure to state your full name and proceed with the information you would like to provide. Additional time may be allotted by a vote of the board. Any attendee wearing electronic devices are asked to turn them off. Should you need to use your device, we ask that you please leave the boardroom to do so. Violations of the above rules will be called to the attention of the violator. You may be asked to leave the meeting if disruptions continue to take place. The um now we'll move to personnel updates. Sure. That's me again. So each meeting, I just give you an update on the rates above entry. So this um actually we um our last meeting was in December. So since then we've had three um hirings at a rate above entry. Um, one was a senior multimeter multimedia coordinator. Um, we also had a procurement tech one and a community services clerk receptionist. So those were our um employees that were hired above entry, and again, we're working really closely with our departments and our hiring managers on those decisions. Um, also looking at our internal equity and making sure that you know uh we're making the right choices for the skill set of the employee, but also considering our internal um app our internal employees as well. Um, but that continues to go really well for us. I did provide you with um a few documents. Um, the first thing I'm going to talk about in terms of personal activities is our wellness program. So I did provide to you our current 2026 wellness program. Um, you can see that uh we've made a change this year, and um this year's wellness program places a strong emphasis on preventative care, specifically encouraging our employees to complete an annual visit with their primary care physician. So you can see um this document at the top, it gives the overview of the wellness program, and at the very top you can see that um employees have to earn their preferred health insurance rate by completing their primary care physician visit. This year we're moving that preferred health insurance rate to $40 a month. So if they do not see their primary care physician in the year, then they will see a $40 increase a month on their health insurance. Regular primary care visits help identify health risk earlier, manage chronic conditions, and reduce avoidable emergency and high cost care. Preventative care leads to better health outcomes and more predictable health care costs, which directly impact our ability to offer competitive benefits. So we're trying to make sure our employees understand how their own individual health ties to our benefits and our claims. Managing health care claims to support um a more stable renewal to promote work promote more stable um insurance renewals. We're going through our insurance renewal process right now. We should have some information on that very soon. So again, we're really having our employees focus on their personal health by going to their primary care physician trying to do that preventative care so that um things do not result in bigger issue, bigger issues. Um, and then we continue to offer the wellness day off. Um, you can see the check boxes there of the activities that the employees um need to do to earn their wellness day off. So we still are offering our biometric screenings twice a year. We do have our biometric screenings usually at the beginning of the year. And then we have a makeup session, and then we also have flu shots offered in the fall. They also have to complete a health assessment and they have to log for wellness activities. So this is our 2026 wellness program. We continue to work closely with Oshner on that program. Our Oshner coordinator is Dana Frank, and she works closely with our employees here. So any questions about our wellness program. And Dana Frank has to keep up with all of them.
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