The Greene County Board of Supervisors met Monday.
The main discussion revolved around a new state law that allows the Supervisors more control over an aspect that has been under the purview of another entity. County Attorney Thomas Laehn told the Supervisors that following the passage of a new law this year, they can either pass a resolution to establish a county compensation board or if they do not, then at the beginning of 2025, the Supervisors will act as the compensation board. He mentioned that there has always been a compensation board that was responsible for setting a compensation schedule of the salaries for the elected county officials.
When the Board checked with the other elected officials, Sheriff Jack Williams was fine with either decision that the Supervisors could made. County Recorder Deb McDonald thought the compensation board representatives of each department were well versed in what that county official did and could more adequately advocate on their behalf, and she was satisfied with the amount of data that was also presented at that annual meeting. County Treasurer Katlynn Mechaelsen liked the relationships that existed between the county officials and the compensation board, as well as with the Supervisors and thought if the compensation board did not exist then the elected officials would feel their relationship with the Supervisors were more of a boss/employee feel and “this is how it is going to be” mentality.
Supervisor Chair John Muir initially stated that he wanted to not establish a compensation board because he wanted to treat individual elected county officials separately with their salary increase requests, instead of being tied to the compensation board’s recommendations, of which if the Supervisors did not feel the same way, they could not increase the amounts, but only decrease it and at the same percentage for all other official’s salaries. The other Supervisors were on the fence about establishing a compensation board moving forward. Following the discussion, the Board will formally act on the topic at next week’s meeting, due to the timeline of which compensation schedules need to be addressed.
The Board also approved Optimized Systems at the Commissioning Agent for the Greene County Courthouse HVAC project, as a step to continue the process, but with no financial commitment. The Board also heard a 2025 fiscal year funding request from Elderbridge Agency of Aging for $8,895 and took no action on the request until budgetary discussions happened closer next spring.