Butler County appoints interim 911 coordinator

During the Butler County Board of Supervisors meeting held Feb. 6, supervisors approved the resignation of April Ernst, who was hired as the 911 coordinator in September.

Before Ernst was hired, Jeffrey Timmerman was hired as the 911 coordinator in May 2022 but left that position to take a job as a deputy. 

County officials did not indicate the reason behind Ernst’s resignation.

The board appointed an interim 911 coordinator, Jami Bowers.

District 1 Supervisor Scott Steager said Bowers is fairly new to the department but has previous experience in the field.

“I believe the original intent when she was hired was to kind of move into a head dispatcher (position),” Steager said.

Bowers’ pay is to be bumped up by $3 an hour while she is serving as the interim coordinator. They will go through the regular hiring process for a permanent 911 coordinator, as noted during the meeting. If Bowers is not hired as the permanent coordinator, her pay will go back to what it was before.

In other business, supervisors heard a request from Sheriff Tom Dion to raise wages for deputies.

Currently, Dion said, non-certified deputies start at $24.32 an hour. He requested that certified deputies start at approximately $28 an hour.

“Everybody in the state of Nebraska, every agency is looking (for people) right now,” Dion said. “… I have talked to several certified officers that showed interest in coming here. But one of the downfalls is the pay.”

Steager asked if the sheriff’s office has a step program in place. In a step program, officers would get a boost in pay in designated timeframes. 

District 5 Supervisor Jan Sypal said she believed a step program would be beneficial.

“If they look at the whole program when they come here to apply, they'll know where they're going to be in a year or two years, three years, five years, whatever. Hopefully there'll be somebody that will stay … for a long time,” Sypal said.

However, she added there are multiple reasons why someone would choose to work for an employer and it’s not always the wages; the program in its entirety should be considered.

County Attorney Julie Reiter noted that those who leave the county’s employ go through an exit interview with human resources.

“We gather that information for a reason. We gather that information to help retain and to help improve on the retention of employees,” Reiter said. “And so if we're not doing anything with that information, it isn’t really helping us.”

Reiter suggested that Dion look over exit interviews and see what the main factor is in people leaving the sheriff’s office, and she added it would be a good idea for the board to do that as well.

“Maybe it should just be a matter of standard course, that HR always discusses an exit interview with the department head and with the liaison to that department. So that we can always make sure we are an attentive employer, and we're good employer,” Reiter said.

Additionally, supervisors tabled writing off accounts receivable accounts at the sheriff’s office until more information is received.

Alexis Buresh, office manager at the sheriff’s office, said there is roughly $4,897 reported in old QuickBooks accounts from before her time with the department that they haven’t been able to settle.

Buresh said it’s mainly “bad bookkeeping,” with some things being entered as invoices that should not have been.

The majority of the amounts were smaller, but there were two larger amounts from the Village of Rising City and the Village of Bellwood. Buresh said that money was received from the treasurer’s office and should not have been entered into the QuickBooks account.

“The fact of the matter was, there was still money and that should be accounted for. That had to go somewhere,” Sypal said.

District 7 Supervisor and Board Chairman Anthony Whitmore said the auditor’s office is recommending they write off the accounts.

The board decided to have Buresh find proof of payment for the two larger amounts. The matter was tabled to the Feb. 21 meeting.

The Butler County Board of Supervisors also:

• Tabled a request for $2,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding from the Butler County Extension for the rural fellows program. The program would bring in two college students who would assist in developing evaluation tools, gathering data and other related work in implementing a program on improving health in the community. The board told the Extension to see if the Four Corners Health Department would available funding for them first and to come back to the board at a later date.  
• Approved a resolution designating February as 4-H Month. Aubree Siffring and Alexa Carter, both 4-H exhibitors, speak about what they do at 4-H and how it impacts them.