BOCC approves Sheriff's Office compensation      

At today’s Johnson County Board of County Commissioners meeting, the BOCC approved a new Civil Service Pay Plan for the Sheriff's Office.

The new starting wage will be $27.50 per hour. However, new deputies would be hired at $28.50 temporarily until there are 14 or fewer deputy vacancies. Fourteen is the average number of vacancies for the year 2021.

This plan would be funded in part by foregoing some already authorized expenditures for the Sheriff's Office, such as 2022 compression adjustments, 2022-2023 hiring bonuses, '23 retention bonuses, '23 range movement adjustments, for sworn staff in the Sheriff's Office and '23 ongoing compression adjustments. Those changes would help fund the increases to the pay table.

Existing deputies who currently receive less than $28.50 per hour would be adjusted. Retention bonuses for 2022 will still be paid as planned.

More information on this topic is available with today’s BOCC agenda (click on item #6).

JCDHE director to leave for another opportunity  

Dr. Sanmi Areola, Director of the Department of Health and Environment, has accepted another opportunity outside of the county. His last day of work is Nov. 4.

Sanmi joined DHE in March of 2020, just in time to direct the COVID-19 response, and what a response it was! No one could foresee that it would last more than two years. Sanmi was instrumental in formulating responses to the constantly changing scenarios, educating the community about COVID-19 and mobilizing partners to mitigate the effects of the virus.

He worked tirelessly to organize and implement broad testing and vaccination clinics. He worked with staff and school officials to prioritize in-person learning in school in safe and healthy environments and worked to ensure that our most vulnerable populations at long term care facilities were protected.

Sanmi has been an excellent leader in forwarding health in our community. He will be missed! We wish him all the best in his future endeavors. Charlie Hunt, current DHE Deputy Director will serve as the Interim Director.

Learn more about Sanmi’s path to Johnson County and his accomplishments while here in this InsideJoCo story.

Get a virtual up-close look at some county Buses and Big Rigs 

During our next Powerwalk with Penny, you can virtually walk along with our county manager as she visits with Public Works staff and shows you some of the county’s buses and big rigs. On Wednesday, Oct. 12 at 4 p.m., employees will get an up-close look at some transit vehicles, as well as big rigs used by Public Works staff to maintain roads and bridges, clear the roads of snow and ice and fight noxious weeds. We hope you will join us to learn more about the important work this county does every day for our county residents.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/98713606352

Meeting ID: 987 1360 6352

One tap mobile

+16699006833,,98713606352# US (San Jose) 17193594580,,98713606352# US

Wellness Program Appeal Process

Check your county email!

If you did not earn one or more Incentives for 2023, you have received an email listing which Incentive(s) was not earned with a link to the 2022 Wellness Appeal Form.

Appeals are due no later than Oct. 7, 2022. Learn more about the Wellness Program here.

How to Save with 2023 Open Enrollment

2023 Open Enrollment is Nov. 1-18, 2022!  All medical plan eligible employees will make their medical insurance election for 2023 along with any other changes that will take effect on Jan. 1, 2023.

Johnson County offers an extensive and affordable benefits package. There are items to consider when making your benefit decisions during Open Enrollment to help you and your family save in 2023. View them here. 

Five employees attend Transforming Local Government Conference on foresight, innovation  

On Aug. 2, Johnson County sent five employees—Greg Baldwin, Brent Christensen, Grace Hanne, Shelly May, and Angela Paz—to Alliance for Innovation’s Transforming Local Government Conference in Austin, Texas.

This conference is held annually and is themed to topics of foresight and innovation. Our employees attended keynote sessions, panel discussions, networking events, viewed interactive displays and live demonstrations of new technologies. 

As a reminder, Johnson County offers AFI memberships to all employees. This resource is a great way for employees to connect, crowdsource problem solving and show off the exciting things Johnson County is doing! 

Here’s how to get started:

• Sign up for the AFI online community https://community.governmentresource.com (simply enter your Johnson County email address to register)
• Sign up for AFI emails Strategic Government Resources (list-manage.com)

For questions regarding Johnson County membership, please contact Emily Vincent, Assistant to the County Manager at Emily.Vincent@jocogov.org. 

To learn how to get involved and to read more about how employees put what they learned to use upon return, view the full article.

Anniversary Celebration for Olathe Naval Air Station and the Airport Commission 

You are invited to a celebration like no other to honor the 80^th anniversary of the Olathe Naval Air Station and the 55^th anniversary of the Johnson County Airport Commission.

The celebration goes from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 1, at the Commemorative Air Force Hanger located at 6 Aero Plaza in New Century. 

There will be lots of fun activities like flight simulators, photo op boards, a Navy dog tag machine, paper airplane contest, kids activities, ONAS souvenirs for sale and much more. Hotdogs, chips, water and soft drinks will also be sold by donation to the Commemorative Air Force. 

Visit the Johnson County Airport Commission’s webpage to learn more about the airport commission. Learn more about the history of the Olathe Naval Air Station in our latest edition of the Best Times magazine.

Deadline to bids on 2022 Art @ Work Employee Art Exhibit is Sept. 30

Time is running out to bid on a wide variety of art from paintings, drawings, photographs, and glass art up for bid through the Online Bidding Auction.

The deadline for bids is 5 p.m., Sept. 30. 

The 2022 Art @ Work Employee Art Exhibit is on display at the Sunset Drive Office Building at 11811 S. Sunset Dr., in Olathe.

We would like to thank everyone who attended the reception and performed Wednesday evening. Our talented Johnson County employees put on a great show! 

Reminder you can still donate to the campaign by visiting ArtsKC's website, filling out a pledge form or delivering cash or a check to the TTV dept. 

Thank you for keeping the Arts Alive!   

Archibus update coming today, Sept. 29

The Department of Technology and Innovation will update the Archibus workplace management program today, Sept. 29.

The update will begin at 5:10 p.m. and should take about one hour to complete. Please don’t enter any data in the system during that time because that data will not carry over.

DTI will be turning on single sign-on (SSO) that will let you click on any Archibus link, and you will be logged in automatically when you are on the Johnson County network.

If you are not on the network, you will have to enter your Windows username and password to get into Archibus.

Tips to stay safe online during Cybersecurity Awareness Month  

Staying safe online is the responsibility of all of us. October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, with the goal to raise awareness about the importance of cybersecurity.

Our DTI Security team wants to ensure county staff have the resources they can utilize by following these steps to protect your online information and privacy:

1. Enable Multi-Factor Authentication for all your accounts, especially banking and financial services.
2. Use strong passwords that are unique to each website or application.
3. Don’t fall for emails or phone calls that seem too good to be true, alarming or threatening, as they can be phishing scams.
4. Keep your software up to date on your devices.

Learn more about these four cybersecurity tips, and find more cybersecurity information at jocogov.org/cybersecurity or staysafeonline.org.

Learn more about today's proclamation below.

BOCC proclamations    

The BOCC proclaimed the month of October as Cyber Security Awareness Month.

Bill Nixon, chief information officer of the Johnson County Department of Technology and Innovation accepted the proclamation.

From L-R: Bunmi Morohunfola, security engineer, Bill Nixon, chief information officer and Chairman Ed Eilert. 

The BOCC recognized the Johnson County Airport Commission for receiving the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association's Jake Safety Award with Distinction.

The Airport Commission earned the honor for completing the 2021 year with zero safety incidents. This is the fifth time the Airport Commission has won the Jake Safety Award.

From L-R: Chariman Ed Eilert, Tim Demott, engineer/conductor, Kyle Kauffman, engineer/conductor, Chris Blackley, conductor, Wyatt Hoggatt, conductor, Jeremy Struble, engineer/conductor, Vance Taggart, conductor, Aaron Otto, Airport Commission executive director, and George Hopper, air rail supervisor.

The BOCC also recognized Emergency Communications Specialist Brian Campbell for being instrumental in saving a life in Leawood in May.

Brian received an emotion call from a woman who was nearly eight-months pregnant. He provided her with instructions on how to perform CPR on her mother who was not breathing. The woman is doing better.

Brian's excellent work was also publicized by the International Association of Emergency Dispatch. He will celebrate his second anniversary with the Johnson County Department of Emergency Services in November.

From L-R: Brian Campbell, emergency communications specialist, Paul Davis, director, Department of Emergency Services, Chris Shelton, operations supervisor, Grady Victory, training manager and Chairman Ed Eilert. 

Listen to the latest JoCo on the Go podcast

JoCo on the Go is a podcast featuring everything Johnson County. Choose from more than 100 episodes about a wide range of topics featuring Johnson County Government subject matter experts. Also hear from community partners, volunteers and residents about how Johnson County programs and services impact them.

Episodes are about 20 minutes each and provide plenty of information about the topics that matter to you!

Here’s a look at our most recent episode:

Working for Johnson County

Johnson County also sponsors another great podcast – Johnson County Library’s Did You Hear? Listen to them both at jocogov.org/podcast.