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County auditor/treasurer terminated

Board appoints temporary replacement, will begin another search

By Kevin Mertens - Staff Writer | Mar 24, 2024

Veterans Services Officer Jenna Schmidtke, left, attended Tuesday’s County Board meeting to tell the commissioners about her recent trip to Washington, D.C. to attend a leadership summit and review the legislative agenda concerning veterans.

The revolving door for the county auditor/treasurer’s position was spinning again during the County Board meeting on Tuesday, March 12.

Item number 14 on the meeting agenda listed the appointment of an interim auditor/treasurer to the position.

But, before the agenda was approved, commissioner Tom Loveall wanted to know why Amy Sathoff was no longer the auditor/treasurer.

“I think the public deserves to know what is going on as far as what can legally be discussed,” Loveall declared. “I make a motion to add to the agenda a discussion on the auditor/treasurer.”

The motion failed for lack of a second.

Later, when the item of approving an interim auditor/treasurer came up for discussion, Loveall took the opportunity to ask more questions.

“Does Amy still work for the county?” he asked.

“No,” board chairman Bill Groskreutz replied.

“Did she resign?” Loveall queried.

“No, she did not meet performance criteria during her six-month probationary period and her employment was terminated,” Groskreutz answered. “She signed the document acknowledging she had received the notice about her job status.”

The board then approved Tammy Emery, by a unanimous vote, to be the interim auditor/treasurer for the county.

Emery had been serving as the assistant auditor/treasurer.

Loveall asked if there was a limit to how long the county could have an interim person in that position.

Commissioner Bruce Anderson, who was on vacation but attended the meeting by Zoom, said, “We can have an interim county auditor/treasurer as long as necessary.”

Groskreutz pointed out that the county may have to provide Emery some assistance.

“That is something we do for every new employee,” he added.

An application for a liquor license generated another round of back-and-forth discussion.

The Golden Bubble applied for a liquor license but confusion arose when the fee recorded on the application was for $1,000.

“That would be for the ability to serve liquor until 2 a.m.”Anderson said. “I am pretty sure that is not what they had in mind.”

During a break in the meeting, Anderson contacted one of the owners of the Golden Bubble and confirmed that they only intended to serve alcohol until midnight, which is a $300 license.

“But the application says $1,000 and we can’t rewrite it,” Loveall argued.

A long, drawn-out discussion ensued about the liquor license fees and the application.

“We could deny this application and then they could reapply with the correct fee listed,” Loveall offered.

“The problem with that,” Anderson countered, “Is that they have events booked which would take place before our next meeting and their current license expires at the end of March. Do you want to call a special meeting before then so they can get their license in time for their events?”

County attorney Cameron Davis cautioned the board about taking any action that would result in a loss of income for the business.

The board eventually passed a motion to grant the Golden Bubble the $300 liquor license on a 4-1 vote with Loveall voting against the motion.

Another liquor license application, this one by the Derby Inn LLC. passed unanimously with little discussion. The license is for on sale only.

Samantha Moeller, who is the sole owner of the LLC, was at the meeting to answer any questions from the board.

“My husband owns the four parcels of property but I own the business,” she explained. “The application is only for the building and the parking lot. It is not for the volleyball court.”

Jo Daviess Township, the Faribault County Sheriff, and the county attorney have approved the license.

“The important thing to remember is the county attorney and sheriff are only advising,” Davis reminded the board. “The decision to approve the license, or not, is to be made by the board.”

The license was approved unanimously.

Also stopping by the meeting was Veterans Services Officer Jenna Schmidtke, who gave a report on the Leadership Summit she had attended in Washington D.C.

“It was my first time attending and I learned a lot,” Schmidtke said. “We were able to review our legislative agenda concerning the veterans.”

Schmidtke shared the group was able to meet with people who could affect change.

“We had the chance to address concerns we had and offer our ideas for improvement,” she commented. “To their credit, the people we visited with were very receptive to what we had to say.”

One of the concerns the group addressed was about VA healthcare and the delays veterans can experience and the extended wait times veterans have to deal with before they receive the health care they need.

“I feel strongly that this was a milestone for opening the door to improving things for our veterans,” Schmidtke noted.

Schmidtke mentioned the group also addressed the need for more funding for mental health issues.

“Overall, I learned we are fortunate to live in Minnesota,” Schmidtke concluded. “Our state is a strong advocate for veterans.”

Planning and Zoning administrator Sara Hauskins attended the meeting to present a conditional use permit (CUP) for approval.

“The request comes from Northern Natural Gas and Jeff Pfaffinger who is the landowner in Section 12 of Jo Daviess Township which would be affected by this permit,” Hauskins explained. “The request is to construct a new substation transfer point between Northern Natural Gas and CenterPoint Energy. Construction will ensure the continuation of safe and reliable natural gas distribution while also allowing for necessary upgrades to distribution systems to accommodate further growth.”

Hauskins further explained the new substation would replace the current one which is located south of Kerry Foods.

“Once the new substation is completed, the old substation would be dismantled and the land returned to Kerry Foods,” Mitchell Kleist, a representative of Northern Natural Gas, said. “The current pipeline has been in existence since 1954.”

Hauskins also reported that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency had conducted their annual feedlot review and Faribault County had met or exceeded all requirements.

Geographic Information Systems coordinator Brandee Douglass was at the meeting to seek approval to hire an intern for a minimum of 140 hours, not to exceed 200 hours. The GIS Department will fund 50 percent of the cost while the other half of the cost for hiring an intern will come out of the Recorder Compliance Fund.

The board also passed a resolution presented by Douglas to apply for a grant which could give the county up to $300,000 to restore, maintain and update PLSS (Public Land Survey System) land corners.

Taylor Doering of the Public Works Department presented two bids for approval by the board.

The first bid was from Henry G Meigs, LLC., in the amount of $422,240 for the 2024 seal coat project. The second bid was from Sir Lines-A-Lot, LLC., in the amount of $135,220 for the 2024 striping project. Both bids were approved.

The county also approved a request by a 3-2 vote, with Loveall and Groskreutz voting against, to grant a license to Gregor Tiling of Minnesota Lake to run a 15-inch tile in the ditch beside County Road 20 east of Minnesota Lake for the purpose of solving a problem created when a driveway with too small of a culvert was installed by a different landowner some years ago.

The board also:

• Approved the requests of Drainage Department employees Merissa Lore, Dustin Anderson and Luke Schonborn to attend the Minnesota Association of Drainage Inspectors Annual Business Meeting and Main Conference.

• Voted to approve the request of Marsha Leschefske of the county attorney’s office to attend the Karpel Solutions National User Group Meeting.

• Granted the request of Jacob Peterson and Vincent Do of the Sheriff’s Department to attend an AR/15/M16 Armorer course.

• Approved Mitch Murphy of the Sheriff’s Department to attend the TASER instructor course.