First County Human Resources Summit Held in Middle Tennessee

Beth Stockwell, Human Resources (HR) Director in Marshall County, wanted to meet and provide an opportunity for HR directors to get together to discuss current HR issues affecting county government. “I’ve wanted to meet with other county HR directors since I started in my position a little over a year ago. I think it’s always beneficial to network with others to discuss issues and ideas while finding common ground in our jobs as HR directors for local government. I think all the attendees got a lot out of the meeting, and I look forward to future summits,” said Stockwell.

With this in mind, Stockwell and Marshall County partnered with CTAS and other organizations to provide training to HR directors who attended the summit. Training included a discussion led by James Armistead, regional outreach specialist for TCRS, about retirement plans and resources for employees. Bryan Dennis, Local Government Insurance Pool senior risk control specialist, spoke about several aspects of risk control, including accident prevention and reporting, Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration requirements, and the Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse. CTAS consultants Laylah Smith and Melisa Kelton, discussed the Family and Medical Leave Act, including eligibility, qualifying reasons, the rights and the notice requirements for both the employee and employer, leave calculation, various reports, and interactions with other laws.

In addition to the training, Melisa Kelton led the group in a networking activity to help the HR directors get to know each other a little better and to find out what topics they might be interested in learning about in the future. Beth provided a spacious room and a delicious lunch for the meeting. We were thrilled to see Bedford, Cheatham, Fentress, Madison, Marshall, Maury, and Montgomery in attendance and are looking forward to the next HR Summit in Montgomery County. Please stay tuned for more details about this upcoming HR summit.