DeKalb County Board approves $2 hourly retention bonus for staff who remain at nursing home during sale period

SYCAMORE – A $2 hourly bonus program to address worker retention at the DeKalb County Rehabilitation and Nursing Center was approved this week by county elected officials, who also appointed an interim director as a $8.3 million sale of the financially struggling facility looms.

The DeKalb County Board voted unanimously to implement a retention bonus for non-union nursing center employees who agree to stay with the facility through the expected ownership transition, which could come by the end of the year.

The board also named a new administrator, Bart Becker, who held the position previously from 2015 through 2018. He will take over exiting administrator Maggie Niemi, who tendered her resignation the morning of July 21, a day after the board voted 17-5 to accept a letter of intent to sell the facility for $8,300,100 to Evanston-based Illuminate HC, a private healthcare company which specializes in operating skilled nursing facilities.

The vote came after months of tense back and forth, with Niemi along with the center’s employees pushing against a private sale.

Chuck Simpson, a 33-year center employee and vice president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees No. 3537, the union that represents county employees, asked the board during its Aug. 17 meeting to increase the proposed amount of money offered for the retention program.

As it stands now, the retention bonus will be offered to non-union members, though county officials have said they plan to negotiate with the union to include the bonus offer for those employees also.

“I’m up here tonight to try to plead with all of you,” said Simpson. In his appeal, Simpson said he knows the county wants to lower staffing costs, specifically those hired through an independent agency, often paid more to help fill shift gaps.

“And I was trying to do the math in my head, the numbers weren’t really forthcoming from the administration,” Simpson said. “But I was thinking, you know, if you pay $40 for an agency CNA – the CNA’s don’t get that, the agency does – and you gave the staff a tenth of that money, that’s four dollars extra an hour.”

Simpson said he believes the staff at the soon-to-not-be county-owned nursing center have been underpaid and undervalued for a long time.

“You have to spend a little money and value your staff,” said Simpson.

Board member Kathy Lampkins, a Republican from District 1, suggested the county could do more than the $1.50 an hour bonus it was considering.

“I’d like to make a motion that we increase this from a $1.50 to $2,” said Lampkins.

Lampkins motion passed unanimously, followed by swift approval of the program.

The bonuses will be in effect Aug. 1 through the date of ownership transition, according to county documents. That means employees will receive an additional $2 per hour for each hour worked from Aug. 1 through Dec. 31, or the date of sale, whichever comes first.

Among those nursing center employees who resigned since the sale vote occurred is the President of AFSCME Local 3537, Chuck Coulter, a maintenance worker at the facility who was a frequent and vocal attendee at county board meetings leading up to the vote. Simpson said Wednesday Coulter’s resignation wasn’t related to the sale.

“He has resigned his position due to family business, not because of a mass exodus that’s happening at the county home currently,” said Simpson.

Simpson also thanked the five board members that voted against the sale of DCRNC and expressed his disappointment in the 17 other members who voted to initiate the sale.

“But that wasn’t any kind of disappointment as it was the next day to see the residents’ faces,” said Simpson.