District Officials' Roles in Personnel Management

• Effective Personnel Management
• Organizational Structure & Chain of Command
• Clearly Defined Roles
• Adding Staff
• Before Hiring
• District Personnel Policies
• Completing the Hiring Process
• Personnel Records & Reporting Requirements
• Co-op Employees
• Districts & NRCS- Working Relationship of all Parties
• USDA Requirements for Shared Office Space
• Districts & NRCS- Avoiding Problems

The District boards are responsible for the administrative oversight of district employees. Many of these responsibilities can be designated to the District Coordinator or other management staff, but board supervisors should be familiar with these elements and everyone’s roles should be clearly defined. Personnel management includes:

• Drafting Job Descriptions
• Performance Planning
• Performance Review
• Coaching
• Personnel Records
• Training and Mentoring Opportunities
• Participation at Regional and National Levels
• Reporting to Board, Grantors, and Public

The Delaware Association of Conservation Districts is separate from the individual conservation districts. The two organizations work closely together, with DACD providing services that connect the three conservation districts and coordinate on state-level issues related to soil and water.

For each of the conservation districts, the Board of Supervisors supervises the District Coordinator, who in turn is responsible for supervising the District Staff.

Similarly, the DACD Executive Board supervises the DACD Executive Director.

• The roles of the District board members, District Coordinator, and staff must be clearly defined.
• Communicate a clear message to all involved regarding the chain of command. 
• Board members must establish a sense of trust in their Coordinator and authorize them to supervise the staff, make staff work assignments, and evaluate the work of the staff.
• The District Coordinator should be directly responsible to the District board, rather than to any federal or state employee.
• Individual board members must then be willing to step away from day-to-day conflicts that may occur… and always follow the chain of command that they themselves have set. 
• Provide clear, timely, and specific feedback on the performance of the District Coordinator. District Coordinator in turn, needs to provide performance feedback to District staff. Everyone needs constructive criticism.

Each District must have up-to-date personnel policies. 

The district employees must complete timesheets each pay period, and a director must sign these time sheets. Information to be included on timesheet: 

**Note** The leave earned must agree with the personnel policies. 

Employee pay rates should be documented each year in the minutes and in the personnel files. 

Employee evaluations should be conducted annually.

Maintain personnel files which include at a minimum the following:

The Kent Conservation District and the New Castle Conservation District also operate a Cooperative Employee Program in partnership with DNREC. In these cases, DNREC works with the Districts to hire an employee that provides a service or job function for DNREC, while the District manages the employee’s pay, personnel records, benefits, etc. 

Increased district responsibilities can result in conflicts and problems between employees of NRCS and districts. It’s better to anticipate where these hitches might occur before they happen to your district. Some of the reasons problems can occur include:

USDA’s Management Services, including property management, have been consolidated within the Farm Production and Conservation Business Center (FPAC). Read more about FPAC and contact information  here . Policies that relate to shared office space are updated frequently. Districts that are entering into a new agreement to share office space with NRCS need to work with FPAC to learn about current guidelines and the process for developing a new agreement.

• Have full agreement among all the team members as to what exactly is to be achieved and what each person is to do. The district board must be in command of the situation and provide strong leadership. The local district and NRCS should decide what the district will do and what NRCS will do.
• District employees should have complete and specific job descriptions that tell them what their duties are, what committees and boards they will work with, when they will represent the district board, and from whom they receive supervision. It is recommended that one board member be designated to serve as supervisor to district employees. It is not recommended that NRCS employees supervise district employees, but NRCS should be responsible for technical training and assuring that technical quality is maintained in all work.
• It is best to have a signed working agreement which spells out the roles each party is to take and then review it periodically. A sample working agreement which addresses this area can be found in Chapter One of the NACD "Personnel Management Guidebook for District Officials."
• Everyone on the conservation team should be aware of what others are doing. They need to understand how their jobs fit together to get the job done. Constant communication is essential.

•  NACD Blog Post: "Did You Know? Every CD Board is Responsible for Personnel Management" 
• NACD's Blueprint for Locally-Led Conservation; A Strategy for District Success and Sustainability", available via  NACD's Member's Only page  or by request through your DACD representative
• NACD's "Personnel Management Reference Book for Conservation District Officials", available via  NACD's Member's Only page  or by request through your DACD representative
• "The Little Book of Boards", by Erik Hanberg, with guidance on hiring and firing your executive director-  summary available here 

• Does your board adhere to a chain of command in interacting with your coordinator and employees?
• Are there additional needs for technical and/or administrative capacity?
• Are there additional needs for training or helping to develop existing staff?