Future EM will be less hands on

By: 
Jason Ferguson

More of a supportive role than an active role. That is the plan for the future emergency management director, whoever it is.
The job description for the future emergency management director, as well as what is happening in the office now, was given to the Custer County Commission at its Jan. 13 meeting by interim director Rob McWhorter, a retired veteran who is volunteering to fill the position until a full-time employee is found. The position became empty when former director Mike Carter retired after being put on paid leave just a few days earlier.
McWhorter said, with the various things the emergency management director has to manage, he would recommend the position start out full-time before being pulled back to a three-quarter time position once the new employee gets a hand on things.
“This position is more to support first responders instead of being one,” McWhorter said.
County human resources director Tim Holland said he received calls from several people interested in the position, including current or soon-to-be retired Forest Service employees as well as a retired Highway Patrol trooper. The commission discussed a one-year probationary period for the new hire, as it allows the person time to learn the position and receive required certifications.
The description for the position, which was approved by the commission, was crafted by McWhorter with the help of county attorney Susan Anderson and Sheriff Marty Mechaley.
McWhorter said he has been going through files in the office and getting up to speed on things, including learning about grants the county receives. He said a Homeland Security grant the county receives has an application due in February.
That particular grant, Mcwhorther said, is from a region-wide pool of eight counties and the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and has $500,000 to $550,000 in funds available. In the past a meeting between first responders to develop a “wish list” has taken place.
McWhorter said it would behoove the county to alert first responders that the grant application deadline is approaching. Custer County Search and Rescue member Sam Smolnisky said Carter took care of the application process in the past, saying he felt he didn’t have the authority nor the professional experience to write them.
“It’s the (emergency manager) who has the authority to apply for those grants,” he said.
McWhorter said, in discussion with regional officials for the Homeland Security grant, the applications should be originated by first responders with help from emergency management.
McWhorter said another grant is pressing as well, a Local Emergency Management Performance Grant that pays for a portion of the salary of the county’s emergency management position.
McWhorter said the grant application has a very detailed set of requirements that must be put in tabular form to describe what was done for each entry, with 60 or so pieces to be filled in every month. While the county has Carter’s time sheets until the middle of December, the details in the required format aren’t available. McWhorter said he and Anderson plan to talk with the state’s Office of Emergency Management to ask for forgiveness on the requirements in light of Carter’s abrupt retirement.
“We’re hoping we don’t have to eat that money,” he said, adding it would be around $20,000.
The commission heard from Sara Frankenstein, an attorney for Gunderson, Palmer, Nelson and Ashmore in Rapid City and also for S.D. Public Assurance Alliance. She presented a document highlighting when it is appropriate and not appropriate to enter into executive session for discussion. Codified law states governing bodies such as the commission, city council, school board, etc., may enter into executive session only for:
 •  Discussing qualifications, competence, performance, character or fitness of any public officer or employee or prospective public officer or employee. The term employee does not include any independent contractor
• Discussing the expulsion, suspension, discipline, assignment of or the educational program of a student or the eligibility of a student to participate in interscholastic activities provided by the S.D. High School Activities Association
• Consulting with legal counsel or reviewing communications from legal counsel about proposed or pending litigation or contractual matters
• Preparing for contract negotiations or negotiating with employees or employee representatives
• Discussing marketing or pricing strategies of a business owned by the state or any of its political subdivisions when public discussion may be harmful to the competitive position of the business
• Discussing certain records
Earlier in the meeting, commission chairman Jim Lintz said he agreed with a previous Chronicle questioning some of the commission’s use of executive session, saying he agreed with the paper’s concerns and that he would work to make sure issues addressed in executive session are only those allowed under the law. Lintz said sometimes it’s easy for the board to meander off the topic for which the executive session was called.
Frankenstein cautioned the commission against discussing what is talked about in executive session outside of the session, as doing so could put county funds at risk and even cost a commissioner a seat in future such sessions.
She said it’s common for people to talk about what happened in the session to friends, spouses, etc., and “pretty soon the word gets out and the whole town knows” privileged information.
“When you take your oath you set aside your personal wants and personal interests and instead advocate and learn about and vote for what is best for the county,” she said.
The Chronicle had formally requested copy of a contract signed by Carter and the county upon his retirement, but received a letter from Frankenstein saying the request was denied, writing the “‘contract requested is not a contract, is not operative or valid, nor was it voted on or approved by the county commission.”
Frankenstein further wrote “the document does not reflect the expenditure of public funds and includes personnel information other than salaries and routine directory information.”
Further, Frankenstein wrote the document is not a settlement agreement with a party to a civil action or proceeding under state law, and “in the alternative, if a court deems it otherwise, the county may maintain its confidentiality as it may be related to ongoing litigation and shall become a public record upon the final disposition of the litigation.”

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