COUNTY News:

The Los Alamos County Council Leadership has put an agenda item on its May 24 Council Meeting agenda to discuss an independent audit of the County’s personnel policies and of the execution of those policies.

Council Vice Chair Susan O’Leary requested this agenda item as a follow-up to the recently settled lawsuits. O’Leary commented that “Ensuring that County policies are appropriate and are being implemented consistently in a way that minimizes lawsuits is a prudent and necessary action that the Council should take to fulfill our duty to perform County management oversight.”

O’Leary added, “In order for this evaluation to be productive, it should be a truly independent review of our personnel approach by an employment attorney or other expert reporting directly to the Council. The decision to hire an independent outside expert is one that should be made in a public meeting with the standard public meeting rules to include public comment. I appreciate the cooperation of Council Chair Reiss in making this an agenda item at our May 24 meeting.”

The May 24 County Council meeting begins at 6 p.m. in Council Chambers at the Municipal Building, 1000 Central Ave., and is open to the public.