At this week's County Commission meeting, Commissioners heard a request for action on on the hiring of a new position, specifically from the Expo/Weed Department.
Request for Action
The request included to approve the hire of a fulltime Administrative Aide for the Noxious Weed Department. In years past, there were two full time office positions. Due to unforeseen circumstances in 2012 county departments were asked to cut staff, so staff went to one person in the office to handle both the Expo Center and the Noxious Weed Department. The Department relied on staff to cross train to be able to help in the office. Since then, staff also takes care of the small maintenance at the South tag office, Health Department, and now The Island. The Department also does snow and ice removal for the Health Department. The goal for the Expo is to bring in more and longer lasting events; examples are Equifest-4 days, Gelbvieh Cattle nationals in 2022-10 days, Hereford nationals in 2023-10 days, etc... While bringing in more events is positive for the economics of the community, it now requires staff to be out more doing their jobs and that leaves no time for them to help in the office. In 2022, the Department brought in a part time position in the office and currently retain it. Although a PT person from 11 am to 5 pm has helped a lot it still leaves much unfinished work. This position will be responsible for, but not limited to, the Noxious Weed Department. Main tasks will consist of selling, and loading of chemicals, spray sheets, logs, accounts payable, accounts receivable, advising customers on what chemicals to use (after training and certifications are met), annual report, and management plan. Both office personnel will communicate and work together to make sure the office is running smooth, and both the Expo and Noxious Weed departments are taken care of. If approved, this position will be effective August 1st, 2023, and be ongoing.
Budget Impact
$14,572.80 would be the impact from August 1, 2023, through the end of 2023. This position was not budgeted for 2023. Some of the funds will be absorbed from the Weed department and some from the farm account (not to exceed $6,500 from farm).
The motion was defeated 3-2.