When the cafeteria closed at the Lake County government center, Mark Pearman saw an opportunity – and not in food service.
Pearman, executive director of the county’s Data Processing Department, has spent the last 25 years lobbying the board of commissioners to dedicate a room to employee training, but until the cafeteria closed, there was never enough space in the building.
Pearman renewed his pitch to wall off the rear of the cafeteria and build a training center. That happened and the inaugural training session was Oct. 17.
“I thought it was a good idea,” said Commissioner Jerry Tippy, R-Schererville. “I’m big on training. We need to get people up to speed on a lot of things.”
Pearman said part of the problem of not having a dedicated training room is that when employees are in their own offices, they are distracted by people walking in and trying to conduct normal business. Employees don’t necessarily absorbing the material.
“That training can be hit or miss,” Pearman said.
The data department has worked with employees across the county for training, said Commissioner Michael Repay, D-Hammond, but the new classroom space will allow that to happen on a larger scale.
Employees can now have real world training, Repay said, something many businesses do.
“We’re finding a need for it we didn’t know existed,” he said. “It’s a great idea.”
In less than 10 months, the county split off the media center and rehabbed that portion of the old cafeteria, Pearman said. The center can be split to accommodate two training sessions at the same time.
“It’ll be put to good use,” he said.
The county is starting to roll out the Guard911 system for emergency alerts, a new phone system, new purchasing software, Tippy said, and all employees will have to learn how those work.
“There’s just so many things that we didn’t have the facility to suit the need,” Tippy said.
Now, the county has a chance to increase training opportunities for employees.
“We weren’t doing as much training as we should be,” Tippy said.
The Property Tax Board of Appeals has already booked the room for the rest of the year, according to Pearman, and plans to have all of its meetings in the media center in 2018.
“People are just now seeing it and getting it in their minds what it can be used for,” Tippy said.
