Updated Sept 5, 2023.

County Council Special Meeting Notes, Sept 5, 2023.  The only agenda item was for approval of a pay grade for a new position. No surprises.  Audio of the Meeting 

The council unanimously approved the pay grade (14 at 43K) for the “New” commissioner assistant position requested by Commissioners Pittman and Wolpert. Councilman Redding was not present. The part-time receptionist/clerical position will be eliminated in Nov. Councilman Swift-Powdrill pointed out the position description did not state the work was to be performed in the office M-F. This stipulation was not included in the vote to approve.

Background: Last fall, the council, and commissioners decided this assistant position was not needed and it was replaced with a full-time HR director position and a part-time receptionist/clerical position. Newly appointed commissioner Blake Wolpert was the advocate for the new position.

This meeting announcement and background information (below) also posted at Brown County Matters on Aug 28, 2023.

Sept 5, 2023, Council Meeting – NEW commissioner assistant position or a paid full-time 4^th Commissioner?   This special meeting will include a vote to approve funding for a “new” commissioner assistant position at grade 14 (43K a year). The meeting may also provide an update on the status of the 2024 budget projections.

• • Last fall, the commissioners and council determined this assistant commissioner position “was not needed.” They converted it to a full-time HR Director position and a part-time receptionist/clerical position.

Funding?  Despite the projected budget deficit for 2024 of over 900K, newly appointed Commissioner Wolpert stated the commissioners “have the money” to fund the new position.

Interestingly the council at their Aug 21st meeting declined a 5K increase in pay for the GIS coordinator who also said the funds were in the budget. Councilman Hewett reinforced that any available funds may be needed to balance the 2024 budget …. except for the new commissioner assistant position at a cost of 43k?

• • An option for funding this “new” position is for the commissioners to VOTE to forego all or part of their salaries to provide the needed funds.

Need?  Regarding the new assistant position, no documented analysis has been provided to justify the new position.  The part-time receptionist/clerical position will be eliminated but the tasks remain. Will these tasks now be performed by the new assistant at a much higher grade level?

Requirements? What tasks will be performed by the new assistant that cannot currently be done by the three commissioners or with temporary contract support?

Does the motivation for this new assistant commissioner position imply that there may be commissioners who lack the time, desire, competence, or commitment to perform the task they were elected to perform?

Background. The local GOP (7 of 4 Rep precinct chairs) voted to appoint Blake Wolpert to a commissioner vacancy. Among Wolpert’s first actions (with the support of the local GOP) was to advocate for a new assistant commissioner position.

Is the intent of this position to support the county or to provide the local GOP more control over county operations?  If so, should the cost of any additional assistance be funded by the local GOP as opposed to county taxpayers?

Temporary Assistance. For interim administrative support, commissioners contracted with the former admin assistant Melissa Stinson, to provide help in preparing the commissioner’s budget and to provide further assistance on an as-needed basis.  Stinson accepted a job last year with a different county and was involved in the discussions to eliminate her old position. She has now applied for the “new” position.

Support for a new position?   Commissioner Sanders (elected in 2022) was not included in the initial decisions by Commissioners Pittman and Wolpert regarding the need for a new position.  Sanders was not the preferred candidate in 2022 of the county GOP.  Initial attempts to undermine his contributions at commissioner meetings have not been successful.

County employees also expressed opposition to the initial position description which they believed included redundant tasks and believed it was over-graded and the candidate for the position was preselected.

• • Sanders defeated a two-term incumbent in the 2022 elections.  His opponent claimed she was the first full-time commissioner in county history. This begs the question: Did she have to work full-time to meet part-time requirements or was the workload unevenly distributed among the three commissioners?   

According to newly appointed Commsissionert Wolpert, the initial position description was rewritten by consultants. It was submitted to the council to approve funding at the council’s meeting on August 21, 2023.  The council voted to table the request to allow time to review the position description and confirm priorities and funding availability.

Welcome to Absurdistan.  Given the council identified over a 900K budget deficit for 2024, THERE IS NO MONEY FOR A “NEW” POSITION.  Yet, I will be surprised if the council is not bullied into approving funding.