Committee looks at draft overhaul of county ethics code

Taylor County is getting tougher on ethics violations with members of the county’s executive committee giving their support to a complete overhaul of the county’s ethics code on Tuesday afternoon.

Committee members reviewed a new 10-page ethics code which was prepared by county attorney Courtney Graff and human resources director Nicole Hager with the help of labor attorney Jake Curtiss.

Graff explained that they largely built off a policy that Curtiss provided from another county having it serve as a template for Taylor County.

Committee member Scott Mildbrand said that overall he liked the draft policy but questioned the area that called for having formal contracts with other municipalities for work done for those governments. He gave the example of the highway department assisting a town when there was flooding damage to a road and was concerned that it would be too much of a burden to have to call special committee meetings to approve contracts to do the work. He suggested that perhaps there could be a onesize- fits all contract on file for those types of situations.

Bub agreed saying it could be as simple as a letter of agreement on file so that they could respond if someone questioned why the county was doing work for another municipality. Bub noted that 95% of issues are due to people having bad information.

Graff agreed and said if nothing else it would avoid having the county need to respond with “that’s the way we have always done that.”

Committee members also reviewed the section on how complaints would be handled. Committee members suggested that signed and written complaints should be made to the County Clerk who would then bring them to the county board chairman. The complaint would be reviewed by the executive committee made up of the board chairman, the first vice chair and the second vice chair.

Bub said that if the complaint was lodged against any of those three, then they would be replaced on the committee by a board member chosen at random, with the ability of the board member selected to decline to serve in that capacity.

A potential complaint against a county board member would ultimately advance to the full county board for punishment through the censure process with a 60% vote needed. Board members could face being stripped of committee assignments as well as any leadership positions.

Committee members also looked at the proposed language in the nepotism section. Bub said he was glad to see it included definitions of who was covered. It largely echoes existing language in the county’s employment policies which prohibit department heads from hiring close family members.

A challenge, it was noted, was that in a small county there is a higher possibility that there could be two members of the same household where they are county employees, such as with current highway commissioner and human services director who are married. The draft policy does not prevent that from occurring.

The draft ethics code will eventually be brought to the full county board to be added to the county code.

Leave policy

Taylor County is backing away from an initial plan to create a county board and employee “work group” to look at updating the paid leave policies and instead putting it on the shoulders of the human resources director to develop a plan.

“I don’t think we should do a work group,” Mildbrand said over concerns it would become a negotiating session. Under Act 10, passed in 2011, government bodies are not allowed to negotiate with employees on anything other than base wages.

Instead of county board members meeting with employees, Mildbrand said it should be the human resources department, along with whatever resources she needs, to develop options and bring it to the full county board for action.

Bub agreed and said that a challenge of any policies, especially those developed over a long period of time is understanding what they actually mean due to negotiated language over time.

Bub emphasized that he wants Taylor County to be a place where people want to come to work and that he wants employees to be treated fairly.

“I don’t think someone should get $65,000 when they leave their job,” Bub said, referring to past payouts of accrued sick leave and vacation time.

“Let’s fix that so that we are fair,” he said, suggesting a set limit of days that can be carried over each year so that employees are not accruing large amounts of time.

“We are not trying to screw people here,” Bub said. He expressed doubt that a work group would be able to reach a consensus comparing the process to attempting to developing a peace plan for the Middle East.

Bub also said it was important for the county to handle it all at once rather than in a piecemeal fashion. “This will be an emotional issue, I don’t know that we want to kick the hornet’s nest twice,” he said.

The plan would be for Hager to bring multiple options back to the committee with the plan of sending something to the county board by the October meeting. Bub said he felt that if it was not ready in time for the October meeting, it would be worthwhile to hold a special board meeting in order to have it in place for the start of 2024. “I want to start 2024 with a new slate,” he said.

Finance director Larry Brandl said the board needed to be careful that they didn’t make a switch to take benefits away especially from long-time employees without giving them a chance to give input on it.

“You deserve what you were promised,” Bub said, clarifying that he feels the county should pay out for what has been accrued to this point and then move forward. He noted that other nearby counties have not done that when they have made changes.

In other business, committee members:

  Approved the annual report and budget for the child support office. The department budget is projected to increase next year due to salary and benefit increases, due to a staff member going onto the county’s insurance. Michelle Kurth noted the department at the end of 2022 actually made a profit for the county generating revenue above expenses of about $14,300. The child support program has been able to maximize the amount of revenue from the state by meeting and exceeding benchmark goals in various areas.

  Approved the annual contract with Schmiege, Graff and Koch Law firm to provide corporation counsel legal services to the county. The only change was a $100 per month addition to the fees the county pays. There was also discussion about who is authorized to seek legal advice from Graff for the county. All board supervisors are able to consult with Graff. Bub suggested that county employees should have to go through their oversight committee chairs over concern that employees were going to her unnecessarily. Graff said she did not believe this was an issue, noting she did not feel staff members consulting with her was being abused. She explained that she has “given hours” to the county and not billed for dealing with some issues such as with the Veterans Service office or for quick questions in passing in the courthouse.

“This will be an emotional issue, I don’t know that we want to kick the hornet’s nest twice.”

— Supervisor Mike Bub