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Request to establish the Public Health Nutritionist (Entry) classification specification and modify Public Health Nutritionist classification specification
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HUMAN RESOURCES’ RECOMMENDATION
The Department of Human Resources recommends the Civil Service Commission to establish the classification specification of Public Health Nutritionist (Entry) and modify the classification specification of Public Health Nutritionist.
SUMMARY
The Public Health Nutritionist (Entry) will be unique to the Health and Social Services Department. This classification specification was created act as an entry level worker to the Public Health Nutritionist series. Additionally, the Public Health Nutritionist classification specification was modified to delete outdated terminology and introduce standardized language into the classification.
DISCUSSION
A public health nutritionist is an expert in diet and nutrition who works to improve public nutritional habits. In Solano County, Public Health Nutritionists are registered dieticians who focus on implementing strategies for the community to improve the nutrition of the population, and have a positive influence on the population’s health and wellbeing.
The Public Health Nutritionist (Entry) will, under general supervision, learn to provide nutrition services for program planning, implantation and evaluation and to provide direct nutrition services for Health and Social Services Department clients. Additionally, incumbents learn to plan, implement, evaluate, and integrate nutrition services within programs and services, and learn to provide individualized nutrition assessment, education and counseling to prevent disease, treat disease, and to improve the health of individuals, families and the community. Currently, the classification for Public Health Nutritionist has encapsulated both the entry level job duties and the journey level job duties, but did not separate out the minimum qualifications for each level, which forced the department to only recruit and hire at the journey level. By separating out the entry level job duties and establishing clear minimum qualifications for the entry level, the Department of Health and Social Services anticipates being more successful in recruiting and retaining qualified staff.
The changes to the Public Health Nutritionist are minor, primarily updating outdated terminology and introducing standardized formatting and language into the classification, as well as separating out the entry level duties. There is no change to the minimum qualifications of the journey level classification specification.
Attached is a copy of the proposed new class specification, the original classification specification for Public Health Nutritionist, and the revised classification specification for Public Health Nutritionist.
ALTERNATIVES
The Civil Service Commission could elect not to approve the proposed class specification; however, this is not recommended as the Health and Social Services Department has requested this classification.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT
Human Resources worked with staff from the Health and Social Services Department in creating the class specification. On April 18, 2019, the County notified SEIU of the County’s intent to establish the new classification and modify the existing journey level classification. The Union did not respond to the County’s invitation to meet and confer.