Read ahead WIC 0.9 to 1.0
Meja Handlen, Director O 360.740.1223 F 360.740.1438 TDD 360.740.1480 Joseph Wiley, M.D. Health Officer
To: BOCC From: Meja Handlen, Public Health & Social Services Director RE: Reclassify a position in the WIC program Date: April 25, 2024
Reclassification and FTE Increase Requests We are requesting to reclassify our 0.9 FTE Breastfeeding Peer Counselor position (position number 1530001), which will be vacant as of May 16, 2024, to a Health Services Worker and to increase the FTE to 1.0. Both of these job positions are scored at grade 114. This reclassification and increase in FTE will accomplish multiple goals. It will accurately reflect the work done by the person in this position; it will increase the total amount of FTE in the WIC program which has seen a significant increase in caseload; and it will increase the pool of interested applicants when this position is posted next month. Staffing of the WIC program was restructured with the departure in December of 2023 of a long-term employee who had held the WIC Dietitian position. As of January 2024, the Dietitian position was reduced from 1.0 FTE to 0.6 FTE. This reduction was possible because some of the work that had been done by the Dietitian was able to be re-assigned to a staff without a dietician certification. In this case it was assigned to the staff person who currently holds the Breastfeeding Peer Counselor position. The person in this position had slowly been transitioning to take on the duties of a Health Services Worker. With the departure of the Dietitian, the Breastfeeding Peer Counselor has transitioned to exclusively doing the work of a Health Services Worker. In the past 12 months the caseload assigned to our WIC program has increased by 20%. Our grant from DOH has been increased by $21,443 specifically to reflect this increase in caseload. The increase of 0.1 FTE for this position would increase the annual salary cost by $4,256 if it was effective for all of 2024. Finally, as we look forward to posting and filling this position, we anticipate significantly more interest among applicants if the position is full time.
Increasing position 1530001 from 0.9 to 1.0 FTE and filling the position at step 3
Grade/Step FTE Salary
2024 Current Budget 114/4 0.9 $ 43,560
Proposed 114/3 1.0 $ 47,816
Increase 0.1 $ 4,256