(Atlantic) The Cass County Conference Board met Thursday evening to discuss the Assessor’s Office budget and other items.
The main item was the budget hearing. Some adjustments were made to the original proposed budget presented at the January 23rd meeting. Primarily, the wages for FY 2020 were increased 2% over the current fiscal year.
One question brought up during the public hearing was whether there was $1-million budgeted to hire Vanguard Appraisal to do commercial and residential appraisals. Vanguard Appraisal presented a proposal at the Conference Board’s last meeting. Mark Wedemeyer was one resident who questioned the need to hire Vanguard Appraisal.
Other members of the public mentioned that they would rather see the Assessor’s Office hire additional people rather than use an outside agency.
County Supervisor and Conference Board Member Steve Baier noted that they have not entered into a contract with Vanguard, there is only a line-item for $74,000 that is to be set aside for reappraisal work. This discussion for the reappraising project was actually on the agenda for discussion later in the meeting.
In the meantime, Dave Jones made a motion to approve the budget without the $74,000 set aside for reappraisal work. The motion died for a lack of a second. A motion was then made by Steve Green to approve the budget as presented and all Conference Board members with the exception of Dave Jones voted in favor.
The Conference Board later held a lengthy discussion on their findings regarding the Reappraisal project after speaking with several counties who have worked with Vanguard Appraisals. Steve Baier….
Assessor Brenda Nelson had said earlier in the meeting that if this reappraisal project were to happen, it would not happen at least until 2026. In the end, the Conference Board approved a motion to leave the money in the bank and stay with the personnel that they have and then they can research this some more.
The Conference Board also held a lengthy discussion on the Assessor’s Office practices/recording of work, leave and compensation time at their meeting Thursday evening.
The item was placed on the agenda because a couple of of the Conference Board members had heard complaints that Brenda Nelson was never in the office.
Assessor Brenda Nelson explained the time sheet they use to log their sick time, vacation time, comp time earned and used, etc. Nelson said she has nothing to hide.
A couple of the Conference Board members also questioned why the Assessor’s Office employees have so much comp time.
What it boiled down to was some members did not like the practice of comp time. Atlantic Mayor Dave Jones said his reasoning for not liking comp time is because it is too easy to abuse.
In the end, the Conference Board decided that there just needs to be more transparency on when employees are out of the office. The Board suggested a white board be hung in the Assessor’s Office that notes if an employee is out of the office and for what reasons that way if someone stops in the office to speak to Brenda Nelson or another employee they know where they are at.
