Editorial: Kudos to county on Tuesday work

• Nobles County

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Here’s something we haven’t given in a long while — a thumbs-up to the Nobles County Board of Commissioners.

The county board has faced a sizeable share of public criticism over the last few months, and perhaps that was on the minds of commissioners during its Tuesday morning meeting. On a 4-1 vote, the board denied a request from former county administrator Mel Ruppert for reimbursement of $26,117.35 in attorney fees. Additionally, the board hosted what one commissioner, Marv Zylstra, deemed as a County Futures session; the meeting was with county department heads to share ideas about administration structure.

First, let’s consider the vote on refusing to reimburse Ruppert. The board noted Tuesday in its resolution that it never “entertained, passed a motion, nor entered into an agreement to retain the law firm. ... Rather, the law firm ... was apparently retained by Melvin Ruppert personally and the invoices issued by ... the law firm were addressed to the personal address of Melvin Ruppert.” If Ruppert hired the attorney without the go-ahead from commissioners — who, after all, are his bosses — why should county taxpayers (who, in turn, are the commissioners’ bosses) have to foot the bill?

The matter of the County Futures session also displays clear-headed thinking. In moving forward after Ruppert’s retirement, we feel it makes perfect sense to get input from key county employees on what may work best administration-wise from their standpoint.

The county board still has no shortage of issues to sort out, but we’re pleased to see how Tuesday proceeded.

Tags: nobles county, nobles county board of commissioners, mel ruppert, opinion