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Local News

Barry County employees receive recognition and kudos for their work

Ten Barry County employees were recognized Tuesday by the Barry County Commission for their attitudes and work for the county.  They have seniority from five to 25 years and several personality traits came up over and over during the presentations.

 

The honorees are April Staines, deputy register in the Barry County Register of Deeds Office; Amanda Miller, deputy clerk with the Barry County Courts; Bill Voigt, director of Barry County Transit; Aaron Staines, IT Department network administrator and Corrections Officers Eric Vanvalkenburg, Thomas Steensma, Melinda Backus and Deputy Don Wilgus and Det. Sgt. Janette Maki, all with the Barry County Sheriff’s Office and Mary Hermenitte, office manager at the Barry County Prosecutor’s Office.

 

Presenting the awards, the employees were said to be positive, reliable, dedicated, professional, kind, patient, willing to help co-workers, willing to learn and knowledgeable team players witha  good sense of humor.

 

The commission also made decisions on several other matters.

In the consent agenda, the commissioners agreed to:

*appoint Kerri Selleck to a three-year term on the Community Mental Authority.

*appoint John LaForge to a three-year term on the Planning Commission.

*apply for FEMA Hazard Mitigation funds to update the expired county mitigation plan and issue requests for proposals.

*reassign a 2010 Ford Edge to the Planning Commission; sell a 2008 Dodge Charger to the highest bidder by sealed bid and sell a 2001 Chevy Astro for scrap.

*renew an agreement with MEI for an antenna on the radio tower at the sheriff’s office for three years for $24,500 annually.

*replace the part-time Property Records Clerk position in the Equalization Department  with a new full time Property Appraiser at Grade 6 on the pay scale and promote Ingrid Pagano to the position on April 29. Estimated salary and benefits is $57,831, an increase of $27,887 more than the salary and benefits of the Property Records Clerk.

*replace the GIS Technician/Residential Property Appraiser position with new IT Helpdesk/GIS Technician at grade 8 on the pay scale. Maximum needed for the remainder of 2019 for the position is $14,500. The estimated 2020 salary/benefits is $79,285 which may be less depending on health insurance cost, $4,316 more than the estimated salary and benefits of Grade 7.

*spend $25,000 from the Capital Improvement budget for heating/AC at the Animal Shelter Training Barn and to make necessary improvements to the interior of the barn.

 

Also, under items for consideration, the commission:

*authorized Fidelity Insurance coverage to Barry County Road Commissioners through its self-insurance pool.

*accepted and approved 2019 Barry County equalization values on state form L-4024.

*approved a 2918 Homeland Security grant program funding agreement between Barry and Van Buren County.

*approved spending $24,137 to replace a heating unit for the animal shelter kennels with funds from the building rehabilitation fund.

*approved Julie Jones application to purchase seven months of generic service with Municipal Employees Retirement System.

*postponed a decision for six weeks on filling vacant positions on the Commission on Aging Board. The committee of the whole last week recommended appointing Gerald Schmiedicke and Catherine Gramze to two of the three open seats. Commissioner Ben Geiger proposed the delay, saying he hopes to attract more applicants by re-advertising the positions.

 

Photo: Barry County employees recognized for their work for the county are (left to right) Bill Voigt, director of Barry County Transit, Mary Hermenitte, office manager in the Barry County Prosecutor’s Office, Amanda Miller, deputy clerk in the Barry County Courts, April Staines, deputy register in the Register of Deeds Office and Aaron Staines, IT Department  network administrator. 

Vanvalkenburg, Steensma, Wilgus, Backus and Maki were not available for the photo.

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