Commission continues to juggle staffing, technology

By Anna Jauhola
Kittson County commissioners approved two hires, one resignation and a severance package during the regular meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 6.
Wayne Jacobson, veterans service officer, gave his letter of resignation during the meeting – not effective until Dec. 1. He has been in the position since 2018 He said he felt he’s done the job and has personal reasons for wanting to retire, and he’s already had three people from the area ask about the position.
“I felt I’ve enjoyed it and it’s been a pleasure to serve the veterans, but I just feel it’s time,” Jacobson said.
The board approved hiring two highway department employees to round out a full staff. Jon Sele will start Monday, Aug. 12 as the new maintenance III motor grader operator. His starting wage will be grade 5, step 3 at $24.22 per hour. Assistant County Engineer Keith Klegstad said they had four applicants for the position and interviewed all four.
Leanne Christian will begin Thursday, Aug. 22 as the accounting clerk II at the highway department office. Klegstad said they had eight applicants for the job, interviewed four and settled on Christian, who has “experience with inventory and payroll and safety documentation.” Her starting wage will be grade 4, step 2 at $21.87 per hour.
As the county works on its budgeting process, the board approved a severance package offered to IT Director Lance Henrickson. Administrator Aimee Sugden said, after the meeting, “It was solely a budgetary issue. We’re not looking at cutting any other positions. We looked at what services we were getting and how we can best allocate our funds.”
The county also contracts with Marco for technology management and that contract is coming up, she added.
Henrickson had not accepted the severance contract as of Aug. 6, but it was presented to him on Aug. 2, and he has 21 days to agree to it.
Sugden said the county’s labor attorney, Pemberton Law, prepared the severance agreement, which equaled four weeks of salary at $8,694.
In other business, the commission:
• Approved a server upgrade through Marco for $85,677.67. Some servers are operating on systems as old as 2012, which can no longer be updated. CFO Shirley Swenson said they budgeted $50,000 each in 2023 and 2024 for server upgrades, but never did those upgrades due to bad timing and administration turnover. The commission agreed the upgrade is overdue.
• Heard from Jacobson he received a quote for signs at cemeteries informing visitors of the significance of coins left on veterans graves. Each sign would cost $29.69. He will visit with cemetery associations about helping to pay for the signs.
• Approved increasing Daniella Steyn’s hours from 35 to 37.5 per week as she now does not need that extra time for college courses. The additional annual cost to the county is $1,600 as the other half of the cost is covered by federal funding.
• Approved an amended contract for Interim Engineer Mike Flaagan. The cost is now $3,500 per month as Flaagan will mostly be on hand for the use of his PE license to sign off on projects.
• Appointed Commissioner Ryan Swenson to the budget committee. Sugden noted that all union wages have been negotiated.
• Approved a request from the MnDNR to access county land as they conduct an elk research project. The county approved access to land by helicopter, foot and atv/snowmobile. And they requested the DNR contact the county before they access the land.
Continued on page 2 Approved a redetermination contract for State Ditch 85 in the northeast portion of the county. It was missed in the overall agreement with H2Overviewers.
• Set workshops to discuss the budget – Monday, Aug. 12 and Tuesday, Aug. 27, both at 9 a.m. These budget meetings are open to the public. The regular meetings on Tuesday, Aug. 20 and Tuesday, Sept. 3 will also include budget discussions. They plan to adopt the preliminary 2025 budget at a special meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 10.
• Approved an agreement with the Joint Powers Agreement with the state of Minnesota, stating should there be a recount of the general election, the county will participate.
• Tabled an agreement with DDA Human Services for maintenance of the wage scale. The commissioners questioned the costs set forward for maintenance when the initial full study only cost $12,000. They asked Shirley Swenson to check into the numbers.
The next regular meeting is set for Tuesday, Aug. 20 at 9 a.m. in the courthouse upstairs meeting room.