The discussion with the Commission on Aging on how to implement a pay and classification study at the Barry County Board of Commissioner’s Tuesday meeting continued during public comment. Commission on Aging Executive Director Tammy Pennington took issue with commissioner’s treatment of the entire situation (see related story.)
Not every department used the county implementation plan, she said. “One department didn’t participate at all; they just turned around and gave their director a $5,000 raise…I did act on the chart I was given… I walked out of the office with a chart…that I thought was certainly the implementation chart for the county…
“On May 16, Commissioner (Vivian) Conner went to the administrator’s office and had specific charts made for the COA implementation that matched the other county departments. That was the first time I saw any chart that was different…so I do believe I had good faith with my board. I feel regretful that my integrity has been questioned and I feel very strongly that it was unfair…
After an April special commission meeting proposing a new COA building, Pennington said she thought that commisionmers, "really believed in the project; you believed in a new state of the art facility that could deliver services to not just the oldest members of our community…
“I really regret that that project is now confused with the fact that our board chose to implement on a slightly different plan than some other departments. I do regret the project has been caught up in this situation because the more delay on the project, the less opportunity you are giving us to go out educate the public and the less opportunity to answer all your constituents and all our residents and be able to give them the information they need to make a decision.”
COA board member Sharon Zebrowski said when the issue came up, the board talked about it in three meetings.
“I felt very pressured from commissioner that you either do it our way, or else. I have sat here and watched other boards come up…the same thing…you do it our way, or else.
“You say ‘you are a good board member, you’ll make good decisions.’ What I hear is ‘you will make good decisions, as long as we do what you want.’” If you are not happy with the decisions the boards make, why have boards, just do it yourself. As a board member, I feel, we get no backing from commissioners, unless we do what you want.” //
Carole Wiggs, COA board member, said the board has the option of “setting our own standards; if it isn’t good, then I think commissioners should take that privilege away from the board.”
Jim Enrietti said he sees the conflict between people's wallets and taxpayers wallets, and commended the board "for being cautious and taking a tough stand. The public comments right now are not very favorable on the COA, and the danger is, if this is not rectified, this being the salary discrepancy, the COA would have a tough time passing that millage in the fall, which would really put a wedge into things.” He sees this as a chance to clarify things and actually help the passage of the millage in the fall.
