County OKs new volunteer policy

Douglas County commissioners approved a new policy to streamline applications and background checks for volunteers on Thursday.

“Volunteers are essential to the success of this organization,” Human Resources Director Wendy Lang said. “Providing the services and resources for this county could not be accomplished without a significant contribution from this volunteer force and Douglas County has a great one.”

Lang said the county’s volunteer policy hasn’t been updated since 2011. The process has prompted concerns from some county volunteers.

“We’ve done a complete rewrite of the policy,” Lang said.

Community Services Director Scott Morgan called approval of the policy a moment of truth for the county.

“We are now talking about handling real issues that have hindered our volunteer program in Douglas County,” he said. “This is not a new topic. A lightbulb didn’t suddenly go on that ‘Gee, volunteers are really valuable in Douglas County.’ It has always been the case and we’ve always been really fortunate to have the number of volunteers who have participated in Douglas County activities, supported Douglas County government.”

Morgan’s responsibilities include the Douglas County Community & Senior Center, which uses volunteers to serve lunches and lead youth sports, among many other things.

“The current policy we were operating under, we missed the moment of truth,” he said.

He said the reply was to hand them all the paperwork they had to go through and three months later, they’d lost interest.

The new program applies background checks depending on the volunteer task. Those working with children and vulnerable populations require more extensive checks.

Concerns about maintaining Douglas County’s labor force prompted commissioners to approve moving up a 2 percent cost of living increase for county employees retroactively to April 1.

The county budgeted for a 7 percent pay increase for county workers starting July 1.