Salary increases for officials approved by county board at special meeting

A special meeting of the Presque Isle County Board of Commissioners was conducted last Friday for the purpose of setting the 2005 salaries for elected and appointed officials, as well as department heads. The special meeting was necessary so the board could approve payroll Wednesday, (yesterday, past press time) at the first regular meeting of the month, and issue checks the next day. The special meeting was conducted because figures were not ready to be approved sooner.

Chairman Allan Bruder said raises, which averaged about $1,000 each year, have been given to officials pretty much every year since he has been on the board. He said the cost living went up 2.6 percent and the raises were a little more than that. The session was relatively short, taking 47 minutes, but included several minutes of discussion.

APPROVAL OF officials’ salaries for 2005 was moved by District 1 commissioner Bob Schell and supported by District 4 commissioner Gary Wozniak. Bruder said board members acted on the recommendation of the personnel committee, which had met for four or five hours earlier in the week.

The motion states that beginning with the first day of January 2005, and until the end of their current terms of office, the salary of county clerk Sue Rhode will be $41,300 ($40,215, 2004), treasurer Pat Cornett $38,500 ($37,464), and register of deeds Cathy Idalski $36,400 ($34,400 was paid to now-retired register of deeds Janet Lamb). Prosecutor Don McLennan’s salary was increased by $2,000, although the yearly salary was not available. An amount was approved in the motion, but was being verified. The salary of sheriff Terry Flewelling remained the same as 2004 until after Wednesday’s meeting, where Flewelling was expected to give a report on what procedures have been taken in the jail in the wake of the recent settlement of the lawsuit brought upon the county by the Nathan Dewey family. The vote on the motion was unanimo

A SEPARATE MOTION was approved to set the wages for appointed officials and department heads. The hourly rate for head custodian Frank Glentz will be $14.80; equalization director Sharyn Malone $20.30; building official Jim Zakshesky $16.50 per hour; undersheriff Bob Paschke $40,500 per year; and the assistant prosecutor Jeaneth Kirkpatrick $42,500. As part of the motion, it was agreed that the magistrate’s salary would remain the same until a matter is resolved with Keith Gordon. In another motion, an hourly rate of $12.62 was set for the chief deputy in the register of deeds office, Barbara Oswalt.

The board also voted to compensate Idalski one-quarter of 15 1/2 hours of unused sick leave time and two leftover vacation days from 2004. In one of the last action items, the commissioners approved a request to allow Glentz to post a fulltime position in his department, which would begin no sooner than January 24.