By Justine Wettschreck and Joanne Bergman The Murray County Commissioners on Tuesday accepted the resignation of Administrator Carolyn McDonald, who has been on paid administrative leave since September 23. The paid leave was pending an independent investigation over employee complaints against McDonald, some of which came to light during a recent employee survey.
The addition of the resignation to the agenda was made at the beginning of the meeting and added to the end of the agenda. No discussion was held, only the motion to approve McDonald’s resignation. The terms of her resignation were not made public at the meeting.
According to her 2022 employment contract with the county, under Termination and Resignation, in the event McDonald was involuntarily terminated by the county, with or without cause, the county agreed to pay her a lump sum cash payment equal to six months’ salary. The contract states the county would also be responsible for the full cost of the premium for insurance coverage until she becomes re-employed or eligible for Medicare.
The 2025 gross annual salary for County Administrator Carolyn McDonald at the time of her resignation was $143,501.
At the time a 5-year contract was offered to McDonald in 2022, the county offered her starting pay of $125,000. She counter-offered, requesting that she be paid $1 more annually than the highest paid employee at Murray County, which left her starting wage at $126,985. The motion to approve hiring McDonald also included the condition that the County Administrator Office be relocated to a more prominent position. The motion to approve her hiring and contract was approved 3-2, with Commissioners Dennis Welgraven and Dave Thiner voting against the contract.
On September 23, Welgraven and Commissioner Jackie Meier were the two who voted against placing McDonald on administrative leave. The motion to have the county labor attorney hire an outside investigator was approved unanimously.
During a special meeting October 2, commissioners had approved the hiring of Flaherty & Hood to conduct the investigation into the allegations against McDonald, which would have taken approximately 30 days, at a significant cost to the county.
The commissioners also approved a motion on October 2 to approve Deputy Administrator/ Human Resources Director Sharon Giese to return to work, effective immediately. In a separate motion, Welgraven and Commissioner Mark Carlson were approved to work with job expectations for Giese.
A motion was made by Commissioner Jackie Meier on October 2 to appoint Welgraven as the contact on a Level 3 Grievance filed by the AFSCME bargaining unit regarding a policy change in respect to holiday pay. Commissioner Loy Woelber asked that Commissioner Roger Zins also be part of the county representation process in the Level 3 Grievance process, which was approved.
On October 7, Welgraven was absent from his role as board chair, leaving vice-chair Meier to run the meeting.
Auditor Treasurer Heidi Winter asked for the Reconstitution of the Joint Drainage Authority for Judicial Ditch 20 which encompasses land in Murray, Lyon and Redwood Counties. A Resolution was passed appointing the two commissioners within that drainage area as its two board members. Currently those are Loy Woelber and Mark Carlson. The information in the original action of 2010 was no longer current.
Winter informed the Board that the County Ditch 11 settlement has been reached and the payment has been received in the stated amount.
Murray County Medical Center CEO, Luke Schryvers, provided his monthly update of activities. The new Clinic Manager is Ashley Haskin, who is currently completing her degree. Drs. Koenig and Kamitz have each provided two days of surgery in September adding to the services provided by MCMC. Dr. Koenig is an orthopedic surgeon. Dr. Kamitz is a General Surgeon from Windom Health. MCMC will be participating in a program with the American Heart Association for three years, working with inpatients to live longer, healthier lives. Tracy Hansen will be leading the program that comes with a grant in the amount of $45,000.
August was a very slow month for the facility as is typical leading to a year to date loss of revenue in the amount of $208,174. To date Acute Admissions are down 25%. Swing bed admissions, surgeries, clinic visits are all up year to date. Account Receivables are $5.7M with expectations of receiving 49% of that amount due to Medicare and insurance discounts.
Jean Christoffels request was approved to allow Sarah Solderholm to remain as the administrative lead on the Des Moines River Watershed One Watershed One Plan. Murray County will be compensated for the time she spends working on the plan.
New action was requested by Highway Engineer Randy Groves to pass a motion to approve the County Road Safety Plan due to a missing signature on the previous motion. The plan allows the County to access federal funds for road safety projects. A date was set for November 7th for the Commissioners to view completed and upcoming projects in the County.
Groves received approval for the purchase of budgeted equipment purchase. A 2010 model excavator will be replaced with a JD 210P unit at a cost of $227,4097.25. The purchase was requested before the new models are in production for a savings of $100,000.
Parks Manager Justin Hoffmann’s request was approved to allow the PALS Club to paint the entrance sign to East Lake Sarah Park and to replace and renew the landscaping next Spring. There will be no cost to the County.
