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Attorney Vitunac noted that if there is any subsequent problems after those warnings are placed in her file, the County could take new personnel action which will not be tainted by the New Beginning problem. The legal staff considered this matter at great length and does not believe that any jury or judge will separate the two actions, as they believe that any competent lawyer can show that this looks like retribution for not completing the New Beginnings program. He pointed out that Mrs. Kiser was not given verbal warning, written warning or a 3 -days suspension over the personnel violations, and stressed that some of these things occurred over a year ago. Attorney Vitunac estimated that it would be $100 an hour for a hearing officer, and assured the Board that they are trained to spend several weeks writing their order after the fact. He recommended that the County rehire Mrs. -Kiser and start over; it would save the County a lot -of expense. Administrator Balczun corrected Attorney Vitunac for purposes of the record, and stated that Mrs. Kiser never has been terminated by the County. Comniss,ioner Wheeler had a problem with the hearing officer because he did not know what we were going to accomplish. He felt that maybe we just should go through the hearing since the decision is going to end up here anyway. Regardless of what the hearing officer says, the Board still will have to sit here and weigh the facts. He felt that he would weigh the facts on what Is presented and did not need a lengthy, expensive report from a hearing officer to do that. If nobody is obligated to abide by the hearing officer's recommendations, then he doesn't see a need to have one. Commissioner Eggert was mainly concerned about having an objective hearing. Chairman Scurlock pointed out that some personnel regulation changes proposed last January were never actually adopted, and 31 AUG 219 BOOK 73 FA1;E 342