Letter: Supervisor says he's doing his best for the county

In response to Wednesday’s letter to the editor when Dan DeKoter referenced me, the reader should know that my ultimate concern is to represent the board of supervisors on the county compensation board to the best of my ability. But now Mr. DeKoter has brought my efforts out to the public in a bad light.

Each of the comp board members had received a letter from Bob Hansen declaring that his arrangement with O’Brien County was “profiting” Osceola County. As the comp board is to consider county salaries based on comparables from like counties, I decided to ask Mr. Hansen what his Osceola County work volume was like for the past year.

My letter of inquiry to Hansen never received a reply. But in a few short days I was met by a response in the form of a letter from Dan DeKoter to the supervisors, telling them I should be removed from the county compensation board. I felt my job required me to ask Hansen some follow-up questions to his initial letter.

The signature line of DeKoter’s letter included the typed name of a fellow comp board member, Harold Dawson.

I then sent a letter to all other comp board members, but not Dawson. I asked them to reconsider suggesting to the supervisors that we reclassify Hansen’s job as part-time, so that his salary could compare to counties of our size. I intended on hand-delivering Mr. Dawson’s letter the night of the comp board meeting, and to ask him in front of the rest of the board if he was taking part in DeKoter’s request to remove me from the board and — if so — were there any other board members he wanted to see removed.

But, when we got the meeting, we found that Harold Dawson was out of town and instead Dan DeKoter was there, as a member of the public. When the formal meeting started, the first person to speak was DeKoter, who had the audacity to say I shouldn’t send out any more of my letters communicating with other board members. He was met by silence from the board, and then he left.

This comp board meeting was the first I have participated in where the board all agreed on salary recommendations in the first vote and every board member was shown the proper respect due.

I have no personal animosity toward DeKoter, Dawson or Hansen, but am doing what I think is best for our county. If I’ve learned anything from this, it is that there should not be just one person running the courthouse. Every veteran whose name is on the courthouse monuments fought so that it would not be just one person in charge. I intend on doing my part to make sure their sacrifice is honored.

Tags: opinion, osceola, county, iowa