The county board continues to move forward on the possibility of hiring a county administrator upon the retirement of Personnel Director/Board Secretary Janet Simonen, but the process isn’t going as fast as some would like. The board discussed the process on May 14 and then again on May 21.
Simonen told the county board that the process would probably take about four months, and she is leaving at the beginning of August. Commissioner Sue Hakes said they need to make a plan for getting Simonen’s work done after she is gone if they don’t have a replacement in place. Commissioner Garry Gamble said he believed they should avoid trying to hurry through the process.
The board discussed the possibility of hiring a consulting firm to help them through the process, which could include everything from writing a job description to hiring. Commissioner Garry Gamble said it would be good to get someone to check their work, but they didn’t need someone to do their work. They discussed what doing it all themselves might be like. Commissioner Hakes said, “We could get through it, but it would be rough.”
On May 21, Commissioners Hakes and Heidi Doo-Kirk indicated that they thought they would need to hire someone to help them through the process if they didn’t get the process moving along a little faster. “This isn’t rocket science,” said Hakes. “Let’s just get it figured out and get going.”
Simonen and Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers sought information from several consulting firms. One firm, Springsted Incorporated, headquartered in St. Paul, has been in business for over 50 years and has offices throughout the country. They offered to help the county through all or portions of the process, including doing reference and background checks and follow-up, for up to $14,000 plus expenses of no more than $2,500. Another firm, Martin- McAllister Consulting Psychologists Inc. of Minneapolis, performs candidate screening, including psychological testing and evaluation to find out applicants’ strengths and weaknesses in relation to the job. Their services would start at $900 per candidate.
The board hosted a public meeting on May 22 to discuss thoughts and ideas on how the position could be helpful to the county. Commissioner Bruce Martinson had told the board that people would not support the position if they didn’t feel their opinions had been listened to in the process.
Both Martinson and Gamble said the department heads would also want to be included in the process. Commissioner Hakes reminded them that the board had already asked department heads for written input and invited them to two meetings to discuss the matter, and Commissioners Martinson and Gamble had met with them twice.
In other county news:
. Personnel Director Janet Simonen reported that she had received six applications for the veterans services officer position which opened up when the state put the position back into the county’s hands.
. Commissioner Bruce Martinson reported that APEX, a regional business development engine, is working with Lake County on bringing a data center to Two Harbors.
. The board was reminded on May 21 that despite the fact that the week before, they had determined not to pay $6,000 for security doors to separate the Sawtooth Elementary gym and locker room from the rest of the school, they had already approved the expense on March 19.
The school had expressed satisfaction with the plan to replace the old boys’ locker room in what will now be the YMCA with a locker room off the elementary gym – at the county’s expense—as long as the county also paid for the security doors.
Commissioner Heidi Doo-Kirk suggested that the county use 1 percent recreation and infrastructure sales tax revenue funding the new Cook County Community YMCA to help pay for the additional bleacher seating that the school had expressed interest in funding. She hoped this would offset the county not paying for the security doors as the school had expected.
Commissioner Sue Hakes said she would talk to ISD 166 Superintendent Beth Schwarz about Doo-Kirk’s idea.
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