Jay Kieft
On October 22, 2013, the county board unanimously approved a contract with Jay Kieft, the candidate selected to be the new county administrator. The salary approved by the county is $8,200.91/month, or $99,492 a year. The draft brought before the board a week ago proposed a salary of $99,000 and was not on a county pay scale. This contract, however, has Kieft at level E81 Step 7 of the county’s department head pay scale. That is the highest pay level in the county and it goes up to $110,112 a year.
Commissioner Sue Hakes took issue with putting the job on the same scale as department heads. “Traditionally, a county administrator at this level would never be on this scale…” she said.
Kieft will start Monday, December 9.
Highway Department hires
The Highway Department had two Maintenance Worker II positions to fill this month. By unanimous vote, the board authorized Highway Engineer David Betts to hire Jesse Backstrom to fill the Maintenance Worker II position vacated by Bill Bohnen. In addition to that vacancy, Engineer Betts reported that Rick Motts, hired to replace Gary Brumberg when he retired last spring, had submitted his resignation and would be moving closer to family in Georgia.
With another Maintenance Worker II position to fill, Engineer Betts said he pulled up the applicant list from last spring. An interview team comprised of District State Engineer Walter Leu, Engineer Betts, Assistant Engineer Sam Muntean, and Highway Department crewmembers Greg Thompson, Charlie Sawyer, and Dan Berglund was assembled to interview four of the previous applicants. A field test was also conducted.
After explaining the process he had gone through to ensure fairness, Engineer Betts recommended hiring Norris Klegstad, son of Highway Maintenance Supervisor Russell Klegstad. Norris has been a “great” summer employee with the Highway Department, Betts said. To not hire him because he is Russell Klegstad’s son, he said, would be “discriminatory.” He said his job is to do what’s best for the department and there was no reason not hiring him would be best. He said Russell would not be Norris’s supervisor.
The board authorized Betts to hire Norris Klegstad by a vote of 4-1, with Commissioner Bruce Martinson casting the no vote.
Martinson said he thought it would be bad to have an employee in a department where the employee’s father was a supervisor and he thought the applicant pool should be larger. He also said people would think favoritism was at work in hiring someone who had already worked for the department.
Commissioner Jan Hall pointed out that her daughter works for the county. “I’m her boss,” she said.
Commissioner Gamble said he appreciated Engineer Betts’ efforts to maintain integrity in the process.
Planning & Zoning secretary
With a six-month temporary secretary position nearing an end in the Planning & Zoning Department, Department Director Tim Nelson put in a request for a 35-hour-a-week position to replace the 40-hour-aweek position vacated by Norma Prosser upon her retirement.
The board had talked about the possibility of “loaning out” the Planning & Zoning secretary to other departments as the Personnel Department has done with Secretary Julie Berglund. Berglund has been working 10 hours a week for Public Health & Human Services but will now be working for the new county administrator, who will assume Personnel Director Janet Simonen’s duties now that she has retired.
Commissioner Sue Hakes asked if the Planning & Zoning secretary could work for other departments for 10 hours a week. Nelson said they usually need a secretary more than 30 hours a week, and he did not think his department could do without a secretary when the secretary would be needed in other departments. In a memo to the board, he had written, “…When each of our departments [is] in the position of being able to provide some assistance to other departments, the other departments are not in the position of needing any additional assistance due to their own lower workloads.”
“We’re in an awkward place because of transition,” said Commissioner Garry Gamble, referring to the county administrator coming on board. One of the county administrator’s first duties will be to evaluate staffing levels in all departments. Gamble said they are trying to be fiscally responsible.
People are doing their own typing these days, something secretaries used to do, Commissioner Bruce Martinson said. Commissioner Jan Hall countered, saying they need someone available to answer phones in each department.
Commissioner Hakes recommended setting the Planning & Zoning secretary job at 30 hours a week for now. Director Nelson said they really need 35 hours a week.
Commissioner Heidi Doo- Kirk made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Hakes, to approve hiring a secretary at 35 hours a week as requested by Nelson. Commissioner Martinson said he would vote yes if the motion included a statement about the possibility that the secretary would be sent out to another department, but Doo-Kirk would not amend her motion. It passed 4-1, with Martinson voting no.
In other county news:
. Road restoration Mary Manning and Mark Adams of the Hovland Tower Road appealed to the board for help holding Arrowhead Cooperative to its promise to restore the road and ditch to their previous condition after installing fiber optic lines. She said Arrowhead Cooperative had not returned her emails since September. Commissioner Sue Hakes agreed to contact the cooperative on their behalf.
. YMCA purchases The board approved several more purchases for the new YMCA. Branch Executive Director Emily Marshall continues to try to find good deals on furniture and equipment. Her latest set of purchases came in $11,300 under estimated costs.
The board approved her request to spend up to the $50,000 still left in the FF&E (furniture, fixtures, and equipment) budget as long as she gets at least two bids on each purchase and secures the approval of County Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers.
While Commissioner Garry Gamble continues to vote no on purchase requests for the YMCA out of principle, he commended Marshall for her diligence, saying she has done a good job being accountable and responsible for the purchases she has made.
. Airport The board approved the appointment of Sue Olson to the Airport Commission. She will be replacing David Saethre, who resigned.
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