Scott Williams, swilliams@wolfrivermedia.com
Shawano County officials are moving forward with structural changes in how the county plans and manages its $59-million-a-year budget.
A county committee on Wednesday approved merging the county’s finance and administration departments, and endorsed another move to reassign the finance director’s duties.
Under the reassignment, the vacant finance director’s job would be split between two other county employees who would receive pay raises. Administrative Coordinator Brent Miller’s salary would increase from $87,000 to $92,000, while Accounting Supervisor Darcy Smith’s salary would increase from $57,000 to $67,000.
The finance director’s job has been vacant since Diane Rusch retired in May after more than 20 years in the post, which paid her $81,000 a year.
The county received 10 applications to fill the vacant job. Officials instead decided to consider leaving Rusch’s job unfilled to see if the county could save money and operate more efficiently by utilizing the talents of some existing county employees.
With the new arrangement approved through December only, Miller assured members of the board’s administrative committee on Wednesday that the county could readjust if the experiment is a failure.
“If it works, it works,” he said. “And if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”
The County Board is scheduled next week to debate the proposed reassignment of finance director duties, along with the salary changes.
No board action is expected on the combination of the finance and administration departments, as members of the administrative committee said they have authority to enact that restructuring. The committee includes Board Chairman Jerry Erdmann, along with Supervisors Gene Hoppe, Bonnie Olson, Deb Noffke and William Switalla.
The committee met behind closed doors for more than an hour Wednesday before taking action on the various changes.
Miller explained how the administration department would move into the old finance department offices in the county courthouse as part of the consolidation. Unlike the temporary arrangement on finance director duties, the combination of departments is permanent, although Miller said they would maintain separate budgets.
County supervisors applauded the streamlining of the two departments as a move to make county government more functional.
“Employees shouldn’t have to run from one end of the courthouse to the other,” Noffke said.
What stirred the most debate were the salary increases that would go to Miller and Smith as they absorb the finance director duties.
Hoppe, the committee chairman, wanted to give Miller a larger pay raise.
“We have a lot of confidence in you,” Hoppe said. “You’re doing a spectacular job.”
At one point, the figure of $20,000 was suggested, which would have raised the administrative coordinator’s pay to $107,000 a year. But other supervisors balked at that suggestion, and Miller himself called it excessive.
“That’s just too much,” he said.
There was some uncertainty, too, about whether reassigning the finance director’s duties required ratification from the County Board or whether that was within the committee’s authority. Erdmann agreed to put it on the County Board agenda next week at the urging of other supervisors and Miller.
Miller said he would like to see the full board decide the matter to fend off any complaints about the process.
“I’d rather get it done there,” he said, “than have you guys fighting about it for the next five months.”