Todd County Board of Commissioners-Work Session
There are many county and employee issues
by Karin L. Nauber
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| This is an example of what the county is currently using. |
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| This is the clearer picture that Pictometry would offer (photos are of the city of Staples). |
Some of the comments are colorful ("Too many freeloaders I am paying for"). Some of the comments are enlightening ("There doesn't appear to be any economic development, especially north of Browerville"). The point is, all of the comments are included in the first draft from the results of the comprehensive plan survey. Even the comments that are not very nice ("Unfair, impolite, rude, unreasonable and dictatorial. Fire Dahlgren").
Environment & Land Resource Management Office Director Andrew Dahlgren presented the compiled results of 103 of the 130 surveys which had been turned in or done online during the commissioner's work session on January 22.
Dahlgren said 90% came from people who had lived in the county for 10 years or more and lifelong residents.
There are six public meetings set up in February to discuss the comprehensive plan and go over the surveys which will continue to be taken at the ELRM office until the end of January.
Economic growth and land use were two of the top rated areas of focus that people wanted to see for the comprehensive plan.
One thing that Dahlgren said he saw as a result of the surveys was that he was going to work to make the planning and zoning area more friendly and easier to understand.
Commissioner David Kircher said they should take the survey as constructive criticism which can help them to improve the county.
"I feel fortunate that my office got to handle it (the surveys/comprehensive plan). This way we can look at the concerns and start to deal with them," said Dahlgren.
"The information from the public gives us a wake up call," said Kircher.
Dahlgren said the survey would be of great value to his office.
He said he would like other departments to help with areas of the plan like transportation, public health and others which he didn't see as his office's areas of expertise.
Results of the survey will be available at the ELRM office, at the public meetings and online.
LIDAR/Pictometry Discussion
GIS Director Gloria Stevenson brought information to the board about LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) and Pictometry that had been discussed previously in 2006 with the board.
LIDAR is an optical remote sensing technology that measures properties of scattered light to find range and/or other information of a distant target.
It produces fantastic multi-angle images. It also costs $450,000.
"We could do some things to reduce the cost, but it would still be around $200,000," she said.
Stevenson said that the county spent several months looking at this technology. They also spent several months looking at the Pictometry company.
Pictometry is the world's largest digital, oblique aerial photography company. The company develops and markets a sophisticated, integrated information system that allows users to have high-resolution images of neighborhoods, landmarks, roads and complete municipalities from multiple views at the click of a mouse.
This technology, while not as sophisticated, also only costs approximately $44,000, according to Stevenson.
Dahlgren, she said, is no longer interested in getting the LIDAR technology, so that is why she went back to exploring the Pictometry company.
There is $130,000 in the compliance fund from which the money could be taken to pay for the program and all that comes with it.
"It is a good value for the county, I feel," said Stevenson.
She added that she spoke with someone from Douglas County. They use this technology, too, and he said that it saves them time as well as money.
There is also no cost for additional licenses so the program can be put on any county computer.
"This would be great for the emergency manager, fire departments, sheriff's department," she said.
This is also a technology that some cities in the county have expressed an interest in and have indicated they would share in some of the cost.
"Everyone I have talked to is very happy with it," she said.
Stevenson is going to bring the idea to the compliance fund committee again and ask for approval for the purchase.
Chairman Randy Neumann asked, "If it saves time can we reduce staff?"
Stevenson said that was a topic she would not touch.
Employee Seniority Resolution
The board heard the reasoning behind changing employee seniority for the Teamsters Courthouse unit.
Union Representative Joan Derby said that it should read that it is based on an employee's date of hire and if changing departments.
Human Resources Director Karla Nalezny said that this is different from the other union contracts and from county policy.
Derby said that usually counties don't care how seniority is determined and let it be done within the bargaining unit.
She said the reason they are pursuing this matter is because it is not fair to bring other outside departments in which would allow someone outside of a department with more seniority to take a job from one of her union members.
She said that promotions and layoffs should be according to departmental seniority.
The county policy is that seniority is based wholly on the original date of hire.
Kircher said that the board still needed to think this through.
"I would like to see us be visionary and be fair. I don't like to see unions telling us how to do something. I want us to be more proactive on these things," he said.
Employees Paid Over the Max of Grade
Nalezny presented information about five county employees who are currently paid over the max of grade for their position. These positions are the social services director, housing coordinator, head custodian and two employees from public works.
There was discussion about how to get them back on the pay grid, but also paying them fairly for the jobs they perform.
Nalezny said she would also like to look at the fair market value also.
Commissioner Mark Blessing said that there were several employees not happy when the pay study was done. He said in the future they hope to have an employment study done.
Nalezny said the board basically had three options. They could do nothing and continue to pay these employees outside of the grid. They could freeze their wages at the 1.5% COLA until they are back on the grid, or they could bump them up a grade.
Kircher said if they just bumped them up a grade then the system means nothing.
Neumann contended that they needed to get these employees back on the grid.
Nalezny is also working on the Minnesota Merit Market Analysis.
County Administrator
The board discussed whether or not they should re-advertise for the county administrator position.
Most agreed that it would be fair to do that. Most also agreed that salary was an issue.
Neumann questioned if they should hire a company to look for an administrator which was in the price range of $18,000.
He also said he was uncomfortable doing anything at this time until all the issues are resolved with former administrator Mike Petersen.
The county is budgeting for $85,000 in salary for the position.
Kircher suggested they get an opinion from their labor attorney on when they can move forward on this.
Wes-Minn Payment
Neumann brought up the issues with the former Wes-Minn director. There is about $3900 that each of the 14 counties involved in Wes-Minn have been asked to pay to help with the $59,000 that Wes-Minn has to pay because the former director signed insurance papers in 2006 and the insurance company is not willing to cover them because they said she knew she was acting fraudulently when she signed them.
According to Neumann, six counties have committed to pay the $3900.
Sandy Rohr from the Todd County Soil and Water Board said before the county paid anything, she would like to see what Wes-Minn has done for Todd County.
"If they had asked the soil and water board for $3900 my recommendation would have been 'no,'" she said.
Kircher asked her if other counties were questioning Wes-Minn's value.
Rohr said they were.
The next work session has been scheduled for February 12 at 10:30 a.m.