County employee leave dominated discussion at Monday’s meeting of Ellsworth County commissioners.

Several department heads — Sheriff Murray Marston, Shelly Vopat, Sue Arensman, Carl Miller, Paul J. Kasper, Dale Houston and Teresa Shute and Nathan Florian — attended to add to ongoing discussions commissioners had with Florian over the past several months regarding bereavement leave for one of his employees that expanded into leave in general.

“I’m not asking for a lot,” Florian said. “Just an additional four hours a week.”

Florian said EMS employees are on a 24-hour schedule and work two back-to-back shifts. As such these employees rely on overtime pay more than regular county employees. They also get paid less per hour. Commissioner Greg Bender said

Commissioner Greg Bender said he wants to make leave more equitable for all county employees. He also would like to review the employee handbook and make changes.

Miller suggested tabling a decision until all of the department heads have time to consider the matter. They can then come back and discuss it during a department head meeting with commissioners.

“I want it to be fair,” said Roberta Waymaster, secretary at the county road and bridge department. “I want to see something that helps everybody in the same way.”

She suggested a committee be formed with department heads and employees to look at options before commissioners make a unilateral decision.

“This is something that’s going to take more than a couple of hours,” Waymaster said.

Florian agreed with Waymaster’s suggestion. “We’ll try to get something put together,” Bender said.

Vopat will e-mail each department head a copy of the employee handbook.

In other business:

• Commissioners met via Zoom with Beth Tatarko of the Austin Peters Group to review the wage compensation study and updated job descriptions she prepared for the county. The study includes elected officials.

Tatarko said Ellsworth County is competitive with its peers with regards to the health insurance it offers county employees. The county is also more competitive than its peers when it comes to vacation and sick leave after one year.

“That might be the reason you might be able to attract new employees,” she said.

Tatarko said commissioners want to be sure they treat all employees the same.

Bender said commissioners will talk to department heads about the details of the study.

“I would prefer to let the department heads decide what they want to do rather than us to decide,” Commissioner Dennis Rolfs said.

• Commissioners decided to keep a county-wide burn ban off since moisture is in the forecast for this week. They will continue to revisit the matter on a weekly basis.

• Melinda Merrill, owner of the Midland Railroad Hotel in Wilson, said the Wilson Tourism Hub, a 501 (c) 3 organization, will receive one of the 22 nationwide Lead for America interns in August for a one-year term. The tourism hub will pay half of the salary for the intern, with Lead for America paying the other half.

Merrill said Lead for America is part of Ameri-Corps.

“We’re really excited about it,” she said.

Merrill said the intern will develop and implement a vision plan for the Wilson Tourism Hub.

She also said the Wilson Tourism Hub has decided to contract with a retail consultant to try to fill some of the empty buildings in Wilson. It is something that will benefit the city and the county as well, Merrill noted.

“We’re just trying to get retail in there that will make the town grow,” she said.

• Commissioners signed a cost share document between the county and state for the Wilson Bridge.

• Approval was given to a $7,603.05 estimate from Wenz Interiors of Holyrood to replace the office flooring and paint the office walls at the county road and bridge department.

• Approval was give to the revised Resolution 2022R04, adopting the execution of an agreement to release and assign the county’s opioid claims to the Kansas Attorney General with additional wording wanted by the Kansas Attorney General’s office.

• Approval of a 5 cent increase in the county’s mileage reimbursement rate was approved. The rate went from 50 cents per mile to 55 cents per mile.

• Approval was given to have Florian call contractors to get bids to repair the water leaks at the EMS headquarters building. It was noted — as it has been in the past— that rainfall seeps into the offices on north side of the building when it rains, causing damage to the floor, exterior wall, etc.

• Commissioners signed an agreement regarding the installation of a fence on the east side of pasture ground located in Section 7-17-8 in Thomas Township. This is in addition to the north-south pasture fence they have reviewed in previous weeks that also was the subject of a dispute between members of the Rathbun family.

The next meeting of the Ellsworth County commissioners will be at 9 a.m. Monday, April 4, at the county courthouse.