Jefferson County Health Department Director Kelley Vollmar is now a contracted employee.
As part of the contract, she also received a $11,500 pay increase, raising her annual salary from $118,500 to $130,000.
Vollmar previously was an at-will employee, but when the Health Department Board of Trustees updated its bylaws early this year, the director position was changed to a contracted position.
On June 24, the board voted 4-1 to give her a three-year employment contract that took effect July 1 and runs through June 30, 2024, unless the board decides to extend or terminate the contract before then.
Vollmar may end her contract with 30 days’ notice, and the board may terminate it with just cause.
Vollmar said she hopes to work at the Health Department until she retires.
“I sincerely appreciate that the board has shown confidence in providing me this three-year contract,” she said. “It is my hope I will continue to have a good working relationship with the board.”
Board member Tim Pigg said Vollmar probably should have received a contract years ago. “It’s protection for Kelley and protection for the board as well,” he said. “(The contract) gives some continuity going forward,” he said.
Pigg said someone with Vollmar’s knowledge would be hard to replace.
In addition to Pigg, board president Dennis Diehl and board members Amber Henry and James Prater voted in favor of Vollmar’s contract, and Suzy Davis, who attended the meeting on Zoom, cast the only no vote.
Davis said she wanted to table the vote on the contract until the July meeting because she did not have a copy.
“Allow me time to download it, look at it,” she said. “At least you guys have it in front of you. I haven’t had that courtesy to have it in front of me yet. I was camping out and there wasn’t a printer and I didn’t have a connection.”
Pigg said Davis had the same time to review the contract as the other board members.
“It was your responsibility to open it up; it’s your responsibility to get it, look at it, digest it, understand it, comprehend it and come with some solidified answers to the board, which you have not,” he said. “All you have done is question and badger everyone here.”
Board attorney Christi Coleman said the board members received a copy of the contract by email at 11:03 a.m. the morning of the meeting.
In addition, the board members reviewed the contract in a closed meeting prior to the vote, Coleman said.
“We went paragraph by paragraph, line by line in closed session, and you were there the whole time,” Coleman said to Davis.
Davis also was the only board member to vote against holding a closed session to discuss the contract before the vote was taken in open session.
Diehl said Pigg and Henry serve on the Health Department’s Personnel and Planning Committee, which helped develop the contract.
Vollmar’s contract allows her to earn sick time and paid time off.
According to the contract, Vollmar’s duties are supervising all employees, overseeing day-to-day operations, preparing a yearly budget, maintaining good public relations, attending all board meetings, enforcing state federal, municipal laws, and more.
According to the contract, the board will evaluate Vollmar’s performance every year by May 1. The evaluation will be based in part on the director’s annual goals, which she provides to the board.
The contract also says that during the May 2024 evaluation, the board will have to tell Vollmar if her contract will be renewed before the expiration.
The new bylaws were approved Jan. 28.