Approve agreements with Apple One, Cathyjon Enterprises, Inc. DBA HB Staffing, and SearchPros, allowing for the recruitment and onboarding of temporary staff during election seasons. (General fund impact up to $1,800,000) (Salinas/Rader)

Approve agreements with Apple One Employment Services, Cathyjon Enterprises, Inc. DBA HB Staffing, and SearchPros, allowing for the recruitment and onboarding of temporary staff to work at polling places, on ballot drop box teams, and in the Election's office during election seasons.

In 2022, Yolo County fully adopted the Voter’s Choice Act (VCA) which was established by Senate Bill 450 in 2016. With the adoption of the VCA model came changes in the way that voting locations were operated. Previously, there was one polling place that would be assigned to specific voters. These polling places were required to be open for just one day, Election Day. In the current VCA model, it is required that the county have one vote center open for every 10,000 registered voters. Yolo County currently operates 13 vote centers and one mobile vote center for each countywide election. Of these 14 total vote centers, three are open for 11-day voting, ten are open for 4-day voting, and the mobile vote center is open for 7 days. These extended voting days have fundamentally changed the demand that is placed on our poll workers and require a change to the way that they are paid.

Prior to the adoption of the VCA model, poll workers were paid via stipend for their 1 day of service and training. Now that poll workers are required to work a certain number of hours and for a certain number of days, this old method of payment is no longer appropriate or legally acceptable.  The poll workers are legally owed overtime pay, and protections like workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance that they previously were not given. It has been confirmed that Yolo County does not have the resources to recruit, hire, and hold the liability for roughly 125-175 election workers every time there is an election.

For this reason, the Elections Office is requesting the help of temporary employment staffing agencies to staff Yolo County vote centers, ballot pick-up teams, and the Elections Office to serve as additional help during election seasons. By working with temporary employment staffing agencies to hire staff, the agency takes on the work of recruiting staff and hiring them as W-2 employees. This shifts the responsibility of vetting, testing, and hiring employees from the Election Office staff to experienced staffing professionals that work every day for this purpose.  It also reduces undo strain on our Human Resources department not having to process up to 175 temporary election workers.  This streamlined process allows the county to focus on other critical aspects of effectively administering elections, leading to greater cost-efficiencies.

The Elections Office is looking to execute 3 contracts with 3 different vendors. Each contract is a 1-year contract with the option to do a no cost extension for 2 additional years. Finally, each contract will have a lifetime max of $600,000. Although the total of these 3 contracts will be for $1,800,000, the Elections department does not intend to spend the full amount over the potential 3 years of the contracts. Instead, the terms of these contracts were established to give the Elections team the maximum amount of flexibility when working with these agencies and to make sure that we will absolutely have the staffing to work at our vote centers. A good faith cost estimate for these 3 contracts is spelled out below.

Due to the new and unknown nature of working with temp agencies for this purpose, these contracts have been structured for maximum flexibility during election season. It is not an option to be short-staffed or not have staff at a vote center. Having 3 contracts at a high lifetime max means that if one or more agencies is not able to provide the staffing that we need, we will be able to rely heavily on one agency. If an agency is not able to provide enough quality staff during elections season, the Elections department has the discretion to not renew for an additional term. If we end up relying on only 1 agency for the potential 3-year term, the $600,000 lifetime max should be enough to cover all costs for staffing needs.

Total estimate cost of temp staff for FY 23/24, 24/25, and 25/26

Average staff cost for 2022 elections	$170,000
Premium for using temp agencies	55%
Estimated new cost per election	$263,500
Cost for March and November 2024 elections	$527,000
Contingency for special elections	$  50,000
Total estimate cost of 3-year contracts	$577,000

Assessor/Clerk Recorder/Elections staff coordinated with the general services department, procurement division and County Counsel in order to put together a request for qualifications to prospective staffing agencies and the approval of agreements.