County looks to add positions focused on diversity, inclusion

May 13—Months of meetings among members of the county's Equity and Inclusion Leadership Team appear to have had an impact on County Executive Jan Gardner's (D) proposed budget.

A few positions in the budget — a business development specialist in the Office of Economic Development and an assistant county attorney — were included in part to help with diversity and inclusion issues, a topic that has been in focus for many local governments since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

The proposed annual salaries for those positions are $91,992 and $117,550, respectively. Helen Propheter, director of the Office of Economic Development, and County Attorney Bryon Black spent part of a County Council meeting Tuesday defending those positions.

Propheter said the business development specialist would serve underrepresented small businesses in the county, including veteran-, women- and minority-owned businesses. There would be no issue keeping the employee busy, she said.

"Cutting this position will minimize or eliminate our diversity and inclusion program," Propheter said, noting the program has existed for six years. "All of those services — the monthly networking, the mentoring, the trainings that we do — will cease ... by cutting this position, it's harming those businesses that are quite small and need direction and need guidance."

The assistant county attorney position is needed not only to help with diversity and inclusion efforts but overall workload in that office, Black said.

The last time an attorney was added to the office was in 2004, Black said. County government has grown since then, and legal issues are now more complex, he added.

Gardner said last month, shortly after she introduced her budget, the attorney and economic development positions are not just about diversity and inclusion but also to deal with an increasing workload. Still, she said one of the factors on her mind during the budget process was addressing inequities and making sure everybody has a chance to succeed after the end of the coronavirus pandemic.

Council Vice President Michael Blue (R), who sits on the county's Equity and Inclusion Leadership Team, said discussions on that board probably helped lead to the addition of an assistant county attorney and business development specialist.

"I think you're going to see the most impact from those two positions with regard to equity and inclusion, with regard to how the government functions," Blue said. "Those are two of the most important areas that we're legally making sure local government is doing what it's supposed to do ... and fending off any criticism that we're not."

Blue, a small business owner himself, has heard there needs to be more opportunities for minorities to start businesses countywide.

"We get questions all the time about whether or not minorities have the same opportunities to start a business," he said. "I don't want to grow our government, but I think there needs to be a trade-off in order to provide opportunities."

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