Wadena County officials denied preferred salary

At the Dec. 20 county board meeting, the last meeting of 2016, Wadena County Commissioners dealt with a number of matters of salary and staffing.

County employees who are union members will receive a two percent salary increase in each of the next three years, and non-union employees and department heads will also receive a two percent salary increase in each of the next three years. The board voted to deny the elected officials and the county engineer the 2.5 percent salary increase to bring them into equivalence with the new proposed salary schedule.

Instead, the Wadena County Auditor/Treasurer, County Attorney, Recorder, Sheriff, and County Engineer will receive a flat fee of $1,750 as a salary increase for 2017. 

This $1,750 is less than a 2.5 percent increase for the County Attorney, Engineer, Auditor/Treasurer, and Sheriff. It’s more than a 2.5 percent increase for the Recorder.

The three commissioners who engineered this flat fee increase for the elected officials and county engineer were Dave Hillukka, Sheldon Monson and Rodney Bounds. The other two commissioners - Jim Hofer and Bill Stearns - favored providing the five officials with a raise to the same salary schedule that everyone else would be on.

The only reasoning offered for the unequal treatment was that the five officials were making too much money compared to other employees, in the opinions of Hillukka, Monson, and Bounds. Hillukka also cited Todd County salaries for the top three officials, which were slightly lower than Wadena County’s. He concluded that therefore, Wadena County should not increase the salaries of the top three officials, which would save $1,300.

The compensation of the county commissioners for 2017 will be the same as for 2016.

In other business, the board

o Approved an extension of the Memorandum of Understanding between Becker County and Wadena County which allows the two counties to share a transit director.

o Heard an update on the status of the North Annex Building construction project.

o Approved a change in the medical examination contract that the sheriff has. The new provider will be Midwest Medical Examiners, of Anoka.

o Approved the hiring of a part-time jailer-dispatcher into a full-time position as jailer-dispatcher.

o Discussed the large increase in out-of-county prisoner boarding expenses incurred by the sheriff’s department.

o Accepted with regret the resignation of Debbie Mursu, long-time county employee in the auditor/treasurer’s office and most recently, the human resources department. Approved the advertising of the position.

o Approved the job description for the new position of network support technician, in the IT department.

o Heard statistical reports from social services.

o Heard a presentation on the Minnesota Merit System from Betty Carlson, Brett Boyd and Adam Colberg. The merit system is required by the U.S. Government to assure that the personnel administration of social service departments meets standards of fairness in pay and working conditions, in return for receiving federal funding.

o Heard a report from Social Services Director Tanya Leskey in relation to the merit system presentation. Leskey is concerned that the county’s salaries for social services employees are not high enough to retain qualified employees to work for the county.

o Approved the hiring of nine employees in the social services department to fill vacant positions: Julie Kiffmeyer, Melissa Grava, Nicole Rodelke, Brooke Holstead, Jessica Jarvey, Janet Kern, Molly Cash, Jordana Pearson, Cheri Dodds.

o Approved a three-month lease extension for the Workforce Center, to March 31,2017.

o Thanked Commissioner Rodney Bounds for his years of service as a commissioner. Bounds is retiring effective Dec. 31,16.

o Discussed the future of the Old Schoolhouse at the Wadena County Fairgrounds with officials of the Ag Society and the Wadena County Historical Society. Commissioner Monson agreed to make contacts about repairing the Old Schoolhouse and bring the information to a January board meeting.

o Heard quarterly report from Mark Hanson, Executive Director of WCEDA.

o Agreed to pay $77,261; for the SE Wadena water and sewer assessments of county property from the county’s rental revenue account.

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