Oaths taken by Iron County Board

HURLEY - The Iron County Board of Supervisors held its annual re-organizational meeting Tuesday in Hurley.

The board welcomed three newly elected supervisors, Brad Matson, of Sherman; Karl Krall, of Saxon; and Victor Ouimette, of Mercer.

During the meeting, Joe Pinardi, of Hurley, was re-appointed as county board chairman, and James Kichak, of Mercer, was re-appointed as vice-chairman.

Elections for two committees were held. Larry Youngs, of Hurley; Mitch Koski, of Montreal; Tom Thompson, of Mercer; George Nasi, of Pence; and Kichak were all elected to the highway committee.

For the agriculture and extension committee, Bill Thomas, of Gile; Paul Mullard, of Hurley; Opal Roberts, of Mercer; Krall and Matson were elected.

Retirement benefits

The board approved a motion to have a wage increase for the human services director in lieu of an insurance payout.

Carolyn Kolson-Janov, director of the department, was one of three county employees eligible for an insurance payout.

The three employees were given the option of one year of health insurance through the county without having to pay their own premiums, two years of insurance with the employee and the county splitting the premium costs or a lump payment of $20,000.

Kolson-Janov was going to take the $20,000 payout and retire at the end of the year. According to clerk Mike Saari, Kolson-Janov wanted to stay until a project she had been working on was completed.

However, it was discussed about having her work for two more years, and increase her wages by $10,000 per year, totaling $20,000.

Supervisor Jack Prospero, of Hurley, said the wage increase would be a wash for the county because Kolson-Janov would have been paid the $20,000 anyway. In addition, Prospero said the county gets to use Kolson-Janov's services for another two years.

"We are not going to be able to hire someone new for what we are paying Carolyn," Prospero said. "We'll be paying someone 25-30 percent more, if we're lucky."

Some board members questioned if the move was going to open a "Pandora's box" for other employees to try and do the same thing.

"Only three employees were eligible for this insurance payout, so we won't have to do this again," Kichak said. "This is the end."

Other business

The board approved receiving Enhanced 911 services through CenturyLink. The services will allow dispatchers at the Iron County Sheriff's Department to better locate where emergency calls are coming from, using advanced software.

Iron County is currently the only county is the state without E-911.