The Custer County Board of Supervisors met Tuesday morning (September 10) in the supervisors room on the top floor of the courthouse in regular session.
Back on the morning’s agenda was the request from County Attorney Steve Bowers for a salary percentage increase for Deputy County Attorney Kayla Haberstick. The request was first introduced at the August 13 meeting. Current verbiage states that the Deputy County Attorney make no less than 65% of the salary of the County Attorney, but no more than 75%. Bowers’ ask of the board was for authority to increase to 85%. It had been taken under advisement pending further budget discussions at that time.
Bowers restarted the discussion by explaining to the board the 24/7 commitment he sees Haberstick tasked with at the position, being available for assisting everybody from those in the office to law enforcement at a crime scene. He explained further that other Deputy County Attorney positions in the state have sat vacant for as long as years at a time despite offering higher pay than that of Haberstick.
After a long period of silence, supervisor Dwain Bryner made a motion to deny the salary increase. His motion died due to lack of a second. Another long silence ensued, broken only by supervisor Longmore stating he had received a call from a law enforcement deputy who voiced their support for the pay increase. No other motions were made, which eventually led to the request dying due to lack of motion.
Later, during the public comment period at the end of the morning portion of the agenda, Sheila Clark came before the board to make a statement on the subject.
“She was born here, raised here, she has no intention of leaving here, but she’ll be forced,” said Clark.
Clark motioned toward supervisor Longmore and thanked him for stating he had gotten a call, adding that she knew that other calls had been made.
“We tout that we want our kids to come back here to our communities and serve our communities, but they can’t afford to do that if they’re not paid a decent salary. So I just want you to be aware of those things,” added Clark.
Bryner answered Clark’s statement saying he had received phone calls from citizens asking that the pay increase not be granted as well, to which Clark asked if they were aware the money does not come from tax dollars. A back-and-forth between supervisor Bryner and County Attorney Bowers ensued.
Bryner: “It’s still tax dollars”
Bowers: “It’s not, it’s not really”
Bryner: “Yes it is”
Bowers: “It’s not local tax dollars”
Bryner: “It’s state tax dollars”
Bowers: “It’s federal money that comes..”
Bryner: “Federal money, that’s tax dollars. It’s tax dollars, bottom line.”
Bowers: “We can argue all day, but, you know..”
Bryner: “Yeah, it’s tax dollars”
Bowers: “I don’t think you understand it”
“You’re going to lose a valuable asset county, you really are,” closed Clark.
The morning session of the meeting adjourned a short time later.
Before the adjournment, the board tabled discussions on a contract renewal with Time Clock Plus, the county’s digital time clock system. Several frustrations from county employees in attendance as well as supervisors were voiced; mainly, that the system was sold as having great features but currently only functions as a simple punch-in-and-punch-out. The renewal date is days before the close of the month, but the board agreed even with the tight time window it was important to both contact Time Clock Plus as well as county department heads.
A lengthy discussion about creating a sinking fund for road work also took place Tuesday, which included heavily the importance of road maintenance even when facing consistent increases in material costs. With the afternoon session of Tuesday’s board work set to center around budget discussions, talks ballooned to include the possibility of future bonds for bigger projects to stay ahead as well as opportunities to save money due to closer proximity to material sites currently in the county.
Ultimately, fund #801 was created, to be named Road Hard Surface Sinking Fund. Care was taken in its name and verbiage so that future board members would understand the fund is for roads exclusively.
A letter of engagement was signed with Contryman Associates for auditing services, and end of August monthly fee reports were approved Tuesday as well. Three applications to cross right-of-way were approved.
The morning portion of the board’s Tuesday business closed with supervisors Parliament and Bryner volunteering to represent the board for the quarterly jail visit. The board will reconvene at 1 PM for budget work. Specifically, a public hearing, budget appropriation and adoption, and the authorization of petty cash funds.
At 1:30 PM, the board will have a public hearing as they act on behalf of the Corner Township, followed by appropriation and adoption.
The afternoon portions of Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors business will be recapped in a separate story on SandhillsExpress.com.
