By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — The Dunn County Board of Supervisors has appointed Dustin Binder as the county’s highway commissioner.
The Dunn County Highway Committee went through the typical hiring process and interviewed several candidates, said Kelly McCullough, county board supervisor from Menomonie and chair of the highway committee, at the Dunn County Board’s March 16 meeting.
After interviewing the candidates, the highway committee selected Binder for the position, McCullough said.
Binder has been working as the interim highway commissioner in Dunn County since former public works director/highway commissioner Jon Sworski resigned October 16, 2021.
Dustin Binder has been with the county for many years as the highway department engineer and then as the interim. The highway committee is recommending Binder as the best candidate for the position of highway commissioner, McCullough said.
The Dunn County Board recently decided to go back to three departments — a highway department, a facilities department and a transit department — each with their own directors, rather than having a director of public works to oversee all three departments.
Directors of public works tend to work in cities and villages where they also manage water and wastewater systems, rather than devoting much of their time to roads and highways.
According to the resolution approved by the county board to appoint Binder as the highway commissioner, his official start date in the position was March 20.
Binder briefly addressed the Dunn County Board and said he has worked for the county for 14 years, nine of which he served as the highway department engineer.
Binder said he was looking forward to new challenges and wants to focus on improvements and maintenance.
The Dunn County Board unanimously approved the resolution by a voice vote to appoint Binder as highway commissioner.
The Dunn County Board met at the March 16 meeting for the first time in person since last summer.
Prior to this, the county board has been meeting by using the online platform Zoom to avoid having people crowded together in one room as a response to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
When the county board met in person last summer, which was the first time the board had met in person in about a year, more than a half a dozen of the 29 county board members contracted COVID-19.
Several county board supervisors attended the March 16 meeting by Zoom.
While Dunn County no longer intends to live-stream county board and committee meetings, the county does intend to continue videotaping the meetings and making them available to the public on the county’s YouTube channel.
Elected official salaries
In other business at the March 16 meeting, the Dunn County Board approved a resolution increasing the compensation for the Dunn County sheriff and the Dunn County clerk of courts.
Under state law, adjustments to the salary for elected officials must be done before candidates for the positions begin circulating nomination papers, which in the case of the sheriff and clerk of courts is April 15, so any candidates for those positions who are elected to a four-year term that will start in 2023 will know what the compensation will be, according background information included with the resolution.
Prior increases have been at the cost of living but there have been no “steps” built into the increases, said Vaughn Hedlund, county board supervisor from Boyceville and chair of the Committee on Administration.
When the increases have been only at cost-of-living, some of the long-time staff members ended up being compensated more than the elected official, he said.
Compensation for the sheriff will be $120,045 in 2023; $125,747 in 2024; $131,720 in 2025; and $137,977 in 2026.
Compensation for the clerk of courts will be $85,000 in 2023; $89,038 in 2024; $93,267 in 2025 and $97,697 in 2026.
The Dunn County Board unanimously approved the resolution establishing compensation for the sheriff and clerk of courts.
Vacation
The Dunn County Board also approved a resolution amending the employee handbook regarding payment in lieu of fringe benefits for part-time employees and vacation for eligible employees.
According to the resolution, part-time employees who work less than 1,560 hours per year — or less than 30 hours per week — will receive additional compensation per hour above their base wage in lieu of fringe benefits, and the additional compensation will become effective on the employee’s first day of employment.
The in lieu of fringe benefits rate county-wide is $2.37 per hour. Eligible employees at The Neighbors of Dunn County receive an additional $1 per hour for a total of $3.37 per hour, according to the resolution.
Regarding vacation, the resolution gives department heads the ability to offer newly-hired employees a bank of up to 40 hours that will be available for use immediately upon hire.
The resolution also authorizes departments to offer a newly-hired management employee up to 120 hours to be credited to the vacation bank upon hire that will be available for use immediately.
In addition, the resolution authorizes the county manager to determine the number of hours to be credited to the vacation bank upon hire for up to 120 hours for department heads and division heads who report directly to the county manager.
Making vacation hours available immediately upon hiring a candidate makes it easier to recruit employees for the county, said Heather Murray, director of human resources.
With the “great resignation,” there is a small window of opportunity to have a job offer accepted because there are more jobs than there are people available to fill those positions, she said.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, people have been resigning from their jobs in record numbers and are seeking positions that offer more pay and more flexibility, such as vacation being available immediately instead of accruing at a certain number of hours per week over the course of the year.
Other flexibilities people are seeking include work-from-home options and setting their own hours.
So many people have resigned from their positions during the pandemic that the phenomenon has been called “the great resignation.”
The Dunn County Board unanimously approved the changes to the employee handbook regarding the payment in lieu of fringe benefits and the hours being credited to the vacation accrual bank upon hire.
Budget adjustments
At the March 16 meeting, the Dunn County Board also approved $2,748,250 in carry-forwards and budget adjustments.
Much of the carry-forwards and budget adjustments were due to grants received by various county departments or were for equipment or projects that were budgeted in 2021, but the equipment was unavailable or the projects could not be completed.
For example, the Department of Administration requested a carry-forward of $56,984 for the highway department forensic audit to be completed in 2022.
Information technology requested a carry-forward of $378,825, of which $71,804 was for statutory land records modernization required by state statute and $199,372 in department cost allocation for 2022. A total of $96,009 for capital projects for information technology includes $49,943 for county board room audio, $7,044 for LCD tier two laptops, $34,148 in printers for managed solutions and $4,874 for laptops and docking station for Environmental Services Zoning to be purchased in 2022.
The transit department requested to carry forward $646,787, of which $412,567 was for the purchase of three electric buses, including a wall box and dual chargers, budgeted in 2021.
The quote from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation for the electric buses was $515,709, and in 2021, a payment of $103,142 was made to place the order with a remaining balance of $412,567.
An additional $179,895 was for facility equipment upgrades and solar arrays to be completed and purchased in 2022.
Emergency Communications requested to carry forward $510,384, of which $78,000 was for the purchase and installation of the WISCOM radio project budgeted in 2019 but not yet completed, and $432,384 to complete the Dunn Fire-EMS repeater project and tower construction in the northern part of Dunn County.
The sheriff’s department requested to carry forward $99,348, of which $6,858 was unused donations for the K-9 program and $490 was unused donations for the First Responders as well as $92,000 to carry forward for the purchase of a transport van, a squad car and a Utility Terrain Vehicle.
The purchase of the additional replacement squad and the UTV will relieve the 2022 and 2023 budget and debt issuance.
