SANDPOINT — In its monthly meeting dedicated to Human Resource Department updates, Director Jonathan Holmgren updated Bonner County commissioners on several ongoing projects. 

Holmgren walked through four action items, discussing first the successful biometric screening that occurred Nov. 19 for county employees who were unable to complete the assessment on their own.  

The assessment, according to Holmgren, saw 39 participants for the event. The screening measures an individual’s overall health, utilizing height, weight, body mass index, blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose levels.  

Screenings are used to assess an individual’s health by providing a snapshot of an individual’s health, alerting them of any health status changes that may occur.  

“It serves as a great opportunity for those individuals who work weekends or don’t have access to a computer necessarily. It’s a good spot for them to come to work and get the assessment done,” said Holmgren. “It was a really successful at providing opportunities for our team to access that resource and benefit through the wellness program.” 

Holmgren also discussed the status of interviews for the county’s planning director, a position that was vacated at the end of the summer by former director Jake Gabell. Gabell now works as planning director for the city of Priest River. 

Since his departure, Holmgren shared that the county had received 11 applications for the position, five of which were deemed qualified enough for an initial interview.  

In other business matters, Holgren shared the department’s intentions to assist the auditing department with county budgets. For the 2027 fiscal year budget, HR will primarily be responsible for personnel budget sheets.  

“'I’m more than willing to take that and do that coordination aspect, and I think that will just make sense, because auditing has so much to focus on from the big picture strategic level. It's a way I think that HR can help with kind of our specialized knowledge about pay scales and individual employee pay,” said Holmgren.  

Holmgren also touched on communications with the assessor’s office for providing more efficient services to Bonner County’s vehicle and driver needs by combining the DMV and driver’s license office.  

While nothing has been made official, Holmgren shared that the departments are currently in review of job descriptions and discussing the responsibilities and requirements that would come as a result of the merging facilities. 

“It will mean a greater amount of knowledge and workload is going to be expected of those clerks, because they're going to have to do two tasks, and it's going to be combined into one,” said Holmgren. “We need to make sure the job descriptions are accurate and account for that. And then it'd be taking a look at, you know, budgetary compensation considerations, especially moving into the next fiscal year.” 

The department's next meeting with county commissioners is scheduled to occur Dec. 29.