Veterans service committee talks budget, commissioners

The Kimball County Veterans Service Committee looked at budgetary concerns and talked about recent issues with the county commissioners at a special-called meeting last Thursday afternoon.

The meeting was also attended by county commissioner Daria Anderson-Faden, county clerk Cathy Sibal and county budget officer Josi Morgan.

Shaun Evertson, veterans service officer, started the meeting with a history of the hiring process for part-time help, which began in February, to July 9 when he was called into an emergency meeting of the county commissioners after he wrote an inflammatory-worded meeting notice for the veterans service committee.

Evertson said the commissioners tried to intimidate him and also “took exception to language of public notice and chose to interpret that only as a personal attack upon themselves as private citizens, not in their capacity as elected officials.”

He said the key now was to go forward with the committee’s statutory mission.

Sibal said she did not see the notice as a personal attack, but an attack on her office. She added that the commissioners never approved the 29 work hours for the administrative assistant in the veterans service office.

“I thought the commissioners were working with Mr. Evertson to allow (the hire),” she said. “They did not have to. They could’ve said no…I did not take this as a personal attack. I took it as an attack on my integrity, and I take an oath as well to uphold the laws of my office. I don’t appreciate it being said that I’m obstructing veterans, particularly veterans.”

Evertson read the state statutes for the office, including those on the budget and the veterans aid fund. He also said the meeting was strictly intended to inform the veterans service committee of recent events, and did not want to get off topic.

“I think we need to get past the past and the butting heads and maybe start working on the future,” said committee member Andy Bremer. “Does that work for everybody?”

“We didn’t start the butting of the heads,” Sibal said.

Morgan said any funds left in the veterans aid fund budget at the end of the fiscal year was allowed to be carried over. Any funds left in the veterans service office budget could not be carried over past the fiscal year, just like any other county office.

Evertson said there are three options for a VSO office, including joining with another county, or having a VSO working locally part-time or full-time.

“There is a legal basis to what we’re doing, and a lot of times some assumptions get made about what has happened in the past, and that’s the way it’s supposed to be,” he said. “Everything that we’ve been trying to do since you guys hired me is to move forward, following statutes, and provide these statutorily required services for the veterans.”

The committee also discussed Evertson’s request to the commissioners to go to an hourly wage and take less money, instead of his current part-time salary. He mistakenly showed his last paycheck as being too high and not correct after making a request to reduce the pay, but Morgan pointed out that it was the previous payroll claim on that check. His next check would reflect the changes, she said.

Sibal spoke about the county’s budget process and the Fair Labor Standards Act, which requires part-time employees to be an hourly wage. The county was out of compliance with the act with Evertson and at least one other employee.

She also said there needed to be an agreement to work together and move forward for the good of the community.

The committee members discussed potential changes to their proposed budget, which will be presented to the commissioners next month to approve or make changes. They decided to meet Thursday (July 23) to look at several options of a new proposed budget, which would likely include higher pay and additional hours for the administrative position, keeping the current salary rate for Evertson and additional funds for training and other needs.

Abramson said the committee passed a proposed budget at a June meeting based on what they thought commissioners would approve, and not what the office needed.

Evertson was to present at least three versions of a budget on July 23.

The committee discussed additional ways of funding the office, including donations and grants. Evertson said the office has received at least $2,000 in donations lately. Bremer said he would help to try to find grants for the office.

Abramson asked if Evertson should write something up to justify the office’s needed hours. He cited a recent report given to the county commissioners which said the office saw fewer than 30 people in the previous month. Abramson said it should be made clear that visiting with those veterans is just the start of the process, and most likely the least time-comsuming part of helping them. The report was purely numbers of visitors and phone calls, and Abramson said it should be more descriptive.

“I think maybe we’ve shot ourselves in the foot on that,” he said.

Sibal expressed hope that Thursday’s meeting will allow the two groups to move forward and work better together in the future.

“I just think, out of every conflict can come good if we allow it,” she said. “I believe this meeting here today, hopefully, education, that you have more understanding of the budget, more of the understanding maybe of my deputy and myself when someone comes in and we’re going, ‘Oh, I don’t think you can do that.’ But again, we are not the final say. It is the board that has the county’s say.”

“I would like to see these people work together, and there’s no sense in having an attitude,” Anderson-Faden said. “...We did get through hiring. It may have been a little bit shaky, but she was hired. We did move forward quite a bit.”