Local News

Wednesday, December 26, 2007 Todd County Board of Commissioners-Work Session Salaries discussed for sheriff, county attorney and the board by Karin L. Nauber After the closed mediation session with the supervisory unit in law enforcement, the commissioners met again to discuss the salaries of the sheriff, the county attorney and themselves. Sheriff Peter Mikkelson was present for the discussion. County Attorney Chuck Rasmussen was in court and not able to attend. Mikkelson and Human Resources Director Karla Nalezny presented information they had gathered from comparable counties and from counties which were geographically close to Todd County. For the nine counties which were comparable in size and budget, the average salary for a sheriff was $71,565. Chair Mark Blessing said that David Kircher's salary was $69,000 his last year as sheriff. Kircher said that they were giving other employees a little over 3% increases a year. "I don't want to make the statement that Sheriff Mikkelson isn't worth what he's asking, but we have to be accountable," said Kircher. Mikkelson said that he felt he had come in with a reasonable request. The consensus of the board was that a resolution would be brought to the meeting on December 27 to approve the sheriff's salary. Nalezny said she had pulled a copy of the agreement that had been made with the auditor/treasurer and the recorder. She said that according to the agreement they would receive an increase and be placed on the next highest step. It did not say they would receive a step in July. She said to be consistent with the resolution the board approved at their meeting on December 18, they needed to rescind the old agreement. "Where are we going to come up with all this money? When I was sheriff, if I had come in asking for a 9% increase you would have laughed at me. I guess that's not the case any more," said Kircher. "I have to agree with Commissioner Kircher. Where are we going to come up with this money? We (commissioners) work from 20 to 50 hours a week and we get around $19,000. If we even think about asking for a raise for ourselves we're dead meat," said Commissioner Randy Neumann. "I am disappointed that we leave all this crap to the 9th hour. We should have known about this agreement (with the auditor/treasurer and recorder). We need to get organized. I believe we need to start this process at the beginning of the year. Now we have five or six days to make a decision," continued Kircher. Neumann said that he had unofficially met with Rasmussen last week and that Rasmussen had told him he was happy with his current salary of $79,000. Blessing said he would like to see something in writing from Rasmussen. Nalezny said she will meet with him and set up a resolution. The board briefly discussed their salaries. They are currently making $19,097 and $50 per diem. Blessing said that the federal mileage rate was going up to 50.5 cents an hour. The board made no suggestions as to if they will raise their salary or not. They will have to make a decision at their December 27 meeting. As for the closed mediation session, the commissioners reported that the mediator had told them he did not feel the issue would go any further, that a solution had been mediated between the county and the supervisory unit. A resolution will be presented on December 27.