Commissioners gather comments on position changes

County Commissioners held a public meeting last Thursday regarding possible changes to personnel and staffing in the county operations. The idea has been tossed around for years to consolidate the duties of the County Clerk and Recorder/Assessor/Surveyor with the duties of the County Treasurer/Superintendent of Schools. The change would also include the hiring of a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to manage the county’s finances in real-time with day-end balances available for transparency and to keep the county expenses and budget planning in check.

The commissioner’s meeting room seating was nearly full as a few residents expressed their concern or support for the changes. One of the recurring themes in the comments was the cautionary admonishment of, “making decisions under the gun.” But Commissioner Carol Brooker clarified, “when I used that term earlier, I misspoke. It feels like we are under the gun, because if we are going to make this change, now is the time to decide so it can get on the ballot properly. The actual idea has been brought up many times over the years and research has been done into the advantages of the move.”

Commissioner Tony Cox explained that the consolidation saves money right off the bat, as it eliminates one whole salary and benefits package.

“Yes, some of that money will go to that consolidated department to help with its new added responsibilities, but not even close to the amount it costs to have a fulltime person in that position, with benefits,” Cox said.

County Clerk and Recorder, Nichol Scribner (whose job would be affected by the change when it is implemented following the next election) detailed the efforts that had been put forth and the consultations that occurred to look into the change.

“Hiring a licensed CFO will be good for the county because we’ll have someone in here with experience and education in governmental accounting and running a county budget,” Scribner said. She added that having an official position overseeing the finances saves the county money with the auditor’s contract. The position would add a new facet to checks and balances, and provide a detailed resource for commissioners and other county leaders when trying to get an accurate look and county coffers, spending or waste.

Scribner noted that about 90 percent of her position’s hours are spent in dealing with finances – answering inquiries, staff and department claims and needs. A licensed CFO would be able to streamline that information, freeing up the consolidated, elected position to tackle other duties. Some concerns were raised about the new hefty workload that would fall on the elected position, but it was assured that the duties were familiar and feasible once trained. It was mentioned by a citizen that a candidate wouldn’t even know exactly what duties they would be running for during an election.

Brooker closed that session for comments, and immediately opened another public hearing on another position consolidation issue. It has been proposed to eliminate the County Coroner elected position and relegate all duties and part of the funding from that salary/benefit package to the Sheriff’s Office. Support was unanimous from the gathered public that the coroner position elimination should happen, with glowing comments for the Sheriff Office’s professionalism and ability to handle the situations that arise when a coroner is needed. Sheriff Tom Rummel added that the county already has five part-time deputy coroners (not sheriff deputies), that respond to “normal” deaths from old age and illness, and that deputies would be available for “suspicious” deaths that are potential crime scenes.

“From our end, it really doesn’t change much of how we respond to deaths already,” said Rummel. Commissioner Cox added that the move would immediately free up over $20,000 for the county, even after the stipend that will be added to the Sheriff’s Office budget.