The Murray County Commissioners on Tuesday tabled a planned discussion regarding a county coordinator position after Commissioners Dennis Welgraven and Jackie Meier said they hadn’t had time to talk to department heads or do research before a decision.
Four agenda items were tabled – abolishing the administrator position to be replaced with a coordinator, the coordinator job description, appointing HR Director Sharon Giese as the coordinator and approving a new organizational chart.
Several months after the investigation into the behavior of then-Administrator Carolyn McDonald and her subsequent resignation, the Board of Commissioners had a work session on what their next move should be – whether to hire a coordinator, an administrator or expand the services by the newly hired HR Director.
At that meeting, department heads shared their opinions, which were for a coordinator or not to replace the position at all. At that time, Welgraven and Meier were the only commissioners who wanted another administrator.
Welgraven on Tuesday said they had only received their packet on Thursday, adding that they needed to discuss this during a work session.
“Why can’t we just discuss it right now?” asked Commissioner Roger Zins, who had added the items to the agenda. Welgraven said the lack of notice was wrong, commenting several times about a lack of teamwork.
Zins jabbed back that at least it wasn’t added last-minute that morning – something that was a common practice of Welgraven, Meier and McDonald prior to McDonald’s resignation.
Meier asked if the county had ever hired a department head without advertising or going through an official hiring process. She learned that yes, it had been done before. Zins then explained he had spoken with both the county attorney and their labor attorney before moving forward.
Board Chair Mark Carlson interjected that they were in no hurry. He said he and Zins had put in considerable time on the subject, speaking with attorneys and talking to department heads. But if they wanted to have another work session, he added, they could certainly do so. That work session is expected to take place following the May 5 meeting.
In other county business, commissioners approved the purchase of chainsaws, agreed to a $2,000 contribution for a Federal Safe Streets Planning Grant and approved bids for overlay, seal coating and striping.
The commissioners also approved a request from County Engineer Randy Groves to put funds toward the rehabilitation of County Road 2 in Fulda. Groves said the cuts that had to be made in the road during recent construction were only going to be patched. He proposed having the rest of the bituminous removed and using county state aid funding toward an overlay. A motion was made and approved to put $120,000 toward the project, contingent on the city of Fulda covering the rest of the estimated $224,000 cost.
The commissioners also approved a 9 percent increase to recalibrate the Grade 21 wage step. This was to repoint the County Engineer job description before it is advertised. According to Zins, a wage study for all county job positions will take place this summer.
Commissioners also heard an annual report from Southwest Health and Human Services.
